An egomaniacal film star develops a relationship with a young dancer against the backdrop of Hollywood's silent era.
Writer/Director: Michel Hazanavicius
Stars: Jean Dujardin, Bérénice Bejo, John Goodman, James Cromwell.
Elodie Hec ... assistant choreographer / dance coach
Fabien Ruiz ... choreographer / tap dance coach
I really think of this as a musical. Musical-comedy dancing is a strong link between the 2 principals, and the final scene is a lengthy dance. But the dancing is not so frequent and/or long in duration to justify the tag.
My rating is based on my seeing this in the theatre back in '11. I remember being thrilled by the use of B.Hermann's Vertigo ('58) music, and waited for it today; it was well-used. I also liked the b/w and old aspect ratio. JD is very watchable. I liked the use of footage from D.Fairbanks' The Mark of Zorro (1920). And that the story is the flip side of Singin' in the Rain ('52): the silent star who's been cast aside. This is one giant valentine to old H'wood, both silent and sound films, and I concur.
Rated 7.9 (214,903)
distr. Weinstein, dir. Hazanavicius; 9
