The Artist is an excellent attempt to draw on nostalgia and early cinema's beauty, but at its core, the film gives us characters as thin as the dialogue. Valentin is far from sympathetic in his fallen journey, and his inability to move into talking pictures is nothing more than trite. Apparently, critics and fans are more interested in style and departure from the typical and want to proclaim themselves postmodern by languishing in the ruins of the past. Wait till DVD or HBO.