Swooning over "The Artist"

Behold the splendor!! Michel Hazanavicius's "The Artist," the silent film (!) that became an instant sensation at Cannes and was picked up for release this fall by the Weinsteins, has been given a glorious poster treatment in advance of its upcoming fall festival rounds and late November release. The film is apparently awesome, with lead Jean Dujardin snagging Best Actor honors from the Cannes jury and the Gurus of Gold (via MovieCityNews) ranking "The Artist" number three among likeliest Best Picture nominees in the annual poll's just-published first 2011 survey.

While the film is indeed silent (with musical exception, of course), and the lead is a virtual unknown, the cast does include a handful of supporting players we all recognize and love to varying degrees, from Beth Grant ("Sometimes I doubt your commitment to Sparkle Motion!") to John Goodman, Malcom McDowell to Penelope Ann Miller and Missi Pyle. The Weinsteins are high on this thing and have been from the get-go, winning a bidding war and promptly slating "The Artist" for a prime release date to maximize Oscar potential, so there's no reason to think that Hazanavicius might be pronounce-able to the relative masses six months from now.

In case you couldn't tell, now's the time of year when movie geeks like me get REAL serious about our one true love, with the fall film fest circuit just around the corner. First up is Venice, which kicks off in less than a week! Expect a sudden influx in Gabe Watching Movies postings to follow suit.

Meanwhile, check out the trailer for "The Artist" below...there are a handful of bewitching shots that seem instantly iconic, and the 2-minute clip exudes considerably greater commercial appeal than I'd expect from a black-and-white silent film, in 2011 or any other year. What do you think? Hopefully this will be more up Liz's grandma's alley than her favorite target of despicable lip service at last year's Christmas dinner, that lesbian wacko trash called "Black Swan." At the very least, grandmas and grandpas everywhere (and their parents, when living & therefore applicable) will have something pleasingly retro to chat up at this winter's bridge games.