Having come close to sweeping the boards in The Oscars results 2012 with ten nominations and 5 wins, The Artist was released on the small screen on the 28th May 2012 for anyone that missed itin the cinema. The charming reintroduction of silent movies to the stream of talkies that we’ve all become accustomed to was a welcome break and this will be a film many will return to for years to come
The Artist DVD came out with the addition of Oscars for Best Picture, Best Actor in a Leading Role for Jean Dujardin and Best Director for Michael Hazanazicius, so it went on to be one of the must have DVDs of the year.
Pre-1927, talking pictures were a rarity and confined to the shorter side of short films, however, with the release of The Jazz Singer in October of that year everything changed, ushering in the end of the silent movie. It’s in this landscape that The Artist finds itself following the intertwining lives of silent movie star George Valentin (Jean Dujardin), and young extra Peppy Miller (Bérénice Bejo) who sees the advent of talkies as the road to stardom for her.
As well as the two starring roles, the film also includes John Goodman in the cast, playing studio boss, Al Zimmer. However, arguable the unsung hero of the film for a lot of people is Uggie the Jack Russell Terrier that played Valentin’s super cute dog, Jack.
In addition to some stunningly stylised sets and wardrobes, The Artis is also graced with a breathtaking score written by Ludovic Bource, which also netted the film an Academy Award. There’s also a classic take on cinematography to bring the beauty, glamour and charm of the past of modern cinema to life.
Though it inevitably polarises opinions on a Marmite love/loath scale, it’s fair to say that The Artist is an impressive film. Not everyone will takes to the concept of silent black and white movies, but nobody can take anything away from what it has accomplished. It’s a cute story that stole everyone’s hearts in 2012, so for fans of the film the DVD will be a smile raiser for a long time.
