The hugely charming-looking silent film ‘Louis‘, from 2010, kind of came and went and went, the general public, have never really had the chance to see it. Interestingly enough, 2011 is turning out another new silent film called ‘The Artist’. It is a French film , shot in Los Angeles, with quirky film-veteran John Goodman and L.A. Confidential’s James Cromwell and it stars Jean Dujardin and Bérénice Bejo, both French. Here is the synopsis:

Hollywood, 1927. George Valentine (Jean Dujardin) is a successful silent movie star. But the advent of talking movies plunges him into oblivion and makes a young extra named Peppy Miller (Bérénice Bejo) into a huge star. This movie retraces their destinies, or how fame, pride and money can become obstacles to a love story.

It was literally a last-minute addition to the Cannes Film Festival and it’s truly been a dark horse in the race for the Palme d’Or, going from a list of out-of-competition movies to one of the most talked about films in the festival. Weinstein Co. are vying for rights to the film even before its May 15th Cannes debut. Hopefully all of this adds up to a US wide-release. It would be outstanding if the once considered ‘dead’ art form of silent pictures rose from its grave a

la Lon Cheney style and made a resurgence as a viable art form once again ~ 84 years since the talkies pushed their way into Hollywood and 75 year after the last widely considered ‘relevant’ silent film flickered on the big screen. What’s interesting to me is that, sure I’m certain the film is good, but part of what the buzz is about is the novelty of a silent film. A silent film is far from novel.

From the looks of the trailer, it looks stunning and powerful, with a killer score to match. Fingers crossed & prayers made that this film realizes it’s potential and doesn’t suffer the same fate that ‘Louis’ seems to have.