Moulin Rouge [Blu-ray] starring
Nicole Kidman, Ewan McGregor
Awesome
A dazzling and yet frequently maddening bid to bring the movie musical
kicking and screaming into the 21st century, Baz Luhrmanns Moulin
Rouge bears no relation to the many previous films set in the famous
Parisian nightclub. This may appear to be Paris in the 1890s, with can-can
dancers, bohemian denizens like Toulouse-Lautrec (John Leguizamo), and
ribaldry at every turn, but its really Luhrmanns pop-cultural wonderland.
Everyone and everything is encouraged to shatter boundaries of time and
texture, colliding and careening in a fast-cutting frenzy that thinks nothing
of casting Elton Johns Your Song 80 years before its time. Nothing is
original in this kaleidoscopic, absinthe-inspired love tragedy--the words,
the music, its all been heard before. But when filtere d through Luhrmanns
love for pop songs and timeless showmanship, youre reminded of the
cinemas power to renew itself while paying homage to its past.
Luhrmanns overall success with his third red-curtain extravaganza
(following Strictly Ballroom and William Shakespeares Romeo & Juliet) is
wildly debatable: the scenario is simple to the point of silliness, and how
can you appreciate choreography when its been diced into hash by
attention-deficit editing? Still, theres something genuine brewing between
costars Ewan McGregor and Nicole Kidman (as, respectively, a poor
writer and his unobtainable object of desire), and their vocal talents are
impressive enough to match Luhrmanns orgy of extraordinary sets,
costumes, and digital wizardry. The movies novelty may wear thin, along
with its shallow indulgence of a marketable soundtrack, but Luhrmanns
inventiveness yields moments that border on ecstasy, when sound and
vision point the way to a moribund genres joyously welcomed revival. --
Jeff Shannon
People hate this movie; I mean really, really loathe it. You know what the
funny thing is? I totally understand. `Moulin Rouge! is hardly a film for
everyone. It claims to be a revival of sorts for the musical genre (and it
was) but it is really far removed from anything the genre has ever seen
before. Baz Luhrmann is an acquired taste, a man full of vision (one of our
generations greatest auteur) and that vision, no matter how grand, doesnt
translate for everyone. With buckets of style lavishly empti ed on every
frame, there are many detractors who view Luhrmanns `simple plot meets
overtly dramatized delivery to be distracting to put it nicely.
This is a `busy movie.
For every ten or so people who despise this film and consider it an
overrated disaster, there is one person who absolutely adores it and
relishes in all of its haphazard and chaotic magnificence.
Yes, `Moulin Rouge! is a simple film, plot-wise. You have a writer,
Christian, who falls in love with a woman of the night, Satine, only to be
pretty much banned from her affections by her boss who has promised her
to a wealthy man, The Duke. Stealing time together, the two work on a
massive production in The Dukes honor, but there is a dark secret (a
predictable one really) that may prevent Satine and Christian from ever
really being `together.
Thats it; but its how it is strung together that makes all the difference.
`Moulin Rouge! for me is one of those rare films where everything comes
together just right. The singing is spectacular (especially Ewan McGregor,
who can really, REALLY sing), the acting is tremendous (especially Jim
Broadbent, who won the Oscar that year for the W RONG film) and the
sequences are dazzling (especially thanks to Nicole Kidman, who has
never been so beautiful). The sets are brilliantly constructed and add so
much vibrancy and emotional weight to the scenes. The musical numbers
may be all over the place, spliced together with attention deficiency in
mind, but they work in harmony with Luhrmanns vision. Really, if you are
familiar with his work (`Strictly Ballroom and `Romeo + Juliet) then you
know how he develops his visual opus, and this is no different. This is
Luhrmann at his most creative and engaging (even if I slightly prefer
`Romeo + Juliet as a whole).
So, hopefully, if you havent yet, you will give this one a try. If you hate it, I
understand, for it has qualities that cannot be appreciated by everyone; but
if youre lucky youll see something here that is rarely seen in cinema, and
that alone is worth the price of admission.
Besides, this is one of the most debatable and thus the most interesting
films in recent cinema.
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