Best movies of the year: The Artist and Hugo

The two movies that stunned the film scene in 2011 were The Artist and Hugo. These movies are beautiful homages to early films and filmmakers.  The Artist surrounds the story of a silent movie actor George Valentin (Jean Dujardin) in the verge of the “talkie” era. Desperation begins to take over his life as the talkies become ever so more popular among the audiences. The career of the young actress Peppy Miller (Berenice Bejo), one whom Valentin had worked with previously when she was an extra on his movie, starts to skyrocket with the success of talkies. The scene-stealer throughout the movie proves to be Uggie, the adorable canine. The film was brilliantly written and directed by Michel Hazanavicius. The movie provides actors with an opportunity to showcase their talent by forcing them to work solely with gestures and facial expressions to present emotion, which Dujardin and Bejo do beautifully. The unique style of The Artist, from its black and white images to a film sans dialogue, proves for a charming and highly magnificent movie. Hugo, on the other hand, is a contemporary movie with an idea from the past.  Hugo Cabret (Asa Butterfield) is on a journey to discover the secrets left to him by his father, through the means of an automaton.  The performance by Ben Kingsley was wildly overlooked by the Academy and other organizations in my opinion. I thought he did a fantastic job as Sir George Melies. Both The Artist and Hugo are fantastic movies that have been a major impact in my life, and have made me appreciate further my love for filmmaking.