The Artist

          Last week, I saw The Artist with my girlfriend.  My mom and sister both raved about it to me and told me we absolutely had to see it.  I didn't know much about it, but I vaguely thought it might be the silent film.  On the way in we found out that not only was it a silent film, but it was also filmed in black and white.  I immediately assumed that anyone who liked it was being pretentious (now you know that neither my mom nor sister read my blog) and that it would be bad.

          And I was wrong.  This movie was very good.  My girlfriend and I both loved it, and we both went in there thinking that the silent film thing would be dumb.  We joked that we both wanted to dislike and came out as complete converts.   The story is great, and the silent film aspect adds a nice layer.  I felt like it caused the audience to be more engaged, as you had to make a little bit more of an effort to understand what was going on.  It was also just a nice change of pace, and some of the more dramatic moments came out really well with the actors "mugging" their emotions to us.

          To add yet another wrinkle, the plot of the movie was actually built around the switch in cinema from silent films to "talkies."  That's all aside from the fact that the dog in the movie is literally the most adorable thing in the world; he was my favorite character.

Amazing scene

          I highly recommend anyone check out this movie, and I would probably say that it's my pick for the Best Picture award.  Interestingly, my second favorite pick of the year, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, was snubbed in the Best Picture nominations.  I also really liked The Descendants (girlfriend's pick for best picture), and I really want to see Hugo.

          I hope you're having a good weekend!  Check out The Artist.