A black and white, silent French comedy without recognisable stars may have seemed an unconventional Best Picture nominee, let alone a winner, but that just goes to show how good The Artist is. Michel Hazanavicius' film was the first black and white winner since Schindler's List and the first silent winner since Wings. Winning 7 Oscars in total made it the most decorated French film of all time and with good reason. It sparkled and charmed while other nominees bored. It told a story about the joy of cinema by putting that joy right there on screen. Other nominees: The rest of the, now ten films long, nominee list had plenty of bland, worthy, mediocre and middle of the road fare nominated for their Oscar-iness: Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, The Help, Midnight in Paris, and War Horse. Martin Scorsese's Hugo, a rare child friendly picture from a director more associated with gangsters, was another charming, heartfelt tribute to the era of silent cinema, but was probably derailed by The Artist's runaway success. Other deserving contenders: While a comedy winner is slightly unusual, a broad comedy like Bridesmaids stood no chance despite its critical popularity. Arthouse movies on traditional horror movie subjects aren't always popular with the Academy either, otherwise We Need to Talk About Kevin and The Skin I Live In might have got a look in. Steve McQueen's Shame may not have been mainstream enough for a Best Picture, but that is likely to be remedied with his latest this time round. Of course notions of "best" are entirely subjective, so if you're baffled by how The Artist managed to win Best Picture in the year of Twilight: Breaking Dawn: Part 1 or think that Terms of Endearment genuinely was the best film to come out in 1983 let us know in the comments below.
