It’s no wonder The Artist swept this year’s Oscars, with awards for Best Picture, Director, and Actor. French filmmaker Michel Hazanavicius pays tribute to the early days of Hollywood with an irresistibly charming movie that also gently defies the current conventions of Tinseltown. It takes no effort to adjust to Dujardin’s almost completely dialogue-free world and enjoy this engaging tale of a silent-film star struggling to cope with the advent of sound. Uniquely expressive actors — French stars Jean Dujardin and Berenice Bejo along with familiar faces such as John Goodman and James Cromwell — make the spoken word seem like an unnecessary frill. That director Hazanavicius struggled for years to get a silent movie financed only makes his unlikely success story that much sweeter.
Video: 1080p, 1.33:1. Audio: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1. Extras: "The Artist: The Making of an American Romance"; Q&A with the Filmmakers and Cast; Hollywood as a Character: The Locations of The Artist; The Artisans Behind The Artist; blooper reel; digital copy. Studio: Sony.
