I didn’t know what to expect. From the endless trailer play The Artist received at the Landmark on Clark, I have to admit I didn’t have much hope. It looked too “artsy,” too cute, too self-important. That’s at least how it seemed. And then the reviews started coming in, and pretty much everyone was talking about it on all the movie podcasts. Still, I was holding out. Everyone could have been deceived by the gimmick of a contemporary silent, black and white film, right?

Of course, my preconceptions were wrong (I still think the trailer mis-markets the film): The Artist is a wonderfully fun and entertaining film, and that makes up for whatever high pretensions it may have. The story is basically the same as Singin’ in the Rain: A successful silent film star struggles to adapt to sound while the woman he loves becomes a huge star.

The year is 1929, the place is Hollywoodland, and the falling star is George Valentin (Jean Dujardin), a mix of Douglas Fairbanks, Harold Lloyd, and William Powell (and Valentino, too, I guess) with the ruggedly charismatic face of Sean Connery and the natural cheeriness of Gene Kelly. And that description is not lifted from Roger Ebert’s review—I’d be surprised to see a review that didn’t mention it.

Anyway, on his way out the door from his latest premiere, Valentin bumps into one of his fans, the slightly ditzy flapper Peppy Miller (Bérénice Bejo). He shrugs it off and poses for a quick photo with her.

As with writers, Directors are pretty high on our list of important pieces of the film and TV making puzzle. If writers are the initial creative force that takes an idea from nothing and makes it into something, directors are the force that shapes that something into a clear vision and fulfills its potential for greatness. Or, they get it as close as it’s ever going to get.

With that in mind, the Directors Guild of America President Taylor Hackford today announced the five nominees for the DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film for 2011.

“The directors nominated this year for the Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film Award have each demonstrated an inspired command of the medium. The fact that their prodigious talents have been recognized by their peers is the highest honor a director can achieve,” said Hackford. “I offer my most sincere congratulations to each of the nominees.”

The winner will be named at the 64th Annual DGA Awards Dinner on Saturday, January 28, 2012, at the Grand Ballroom at Hollywood & Highland.

The nominees are (in alphabetical order):

WOODY ALLEN
Midnight in Paris
(Sony Pictures Classics)
Mr. Allen’s Directorial Team:
Unit Production Managers: Matthieu Rubin, Helen Robin
First Assistant Director: Gil Kenny
Second Assistant Director: Delphine Bertrand

Mel Brooks may have knocked it out of the park by being tongue-in-cheek back when he made Silent Movie, but there is no way today’s audience could possibly accept a full, silent, black & white film. Right? Well, that’s exactly what director Michel Hazanavicius has done.

His film, The Artist, is done like a classic black & white film. Movie stars, dames in trouble, tons of indoor smoking, and more dancing than you could shake a stick at. Here’s the premise:

Hollywood 1927. George Valentin is a very successful silent movie star. The arrival of talking pictures will mark the end of his career. Peppy Miller, a young woman extra, becomes a major movie star.

With films about zombies and The Help making waves in the box office, why couldn’t a simple silent movie about Hollywood in the 1920s take off? They’ve already got us hooked with the trailer, which you can check out after the jump.

Catch Weinstein Company’s The Artist in theaters on November 23rd.