I am happy to tell all you wonderful people that come to this site
(both of you) that you have a magnificent opportunity now awaiting
you at the local cineplex. You now have the amazing, one-of-a-kind
chance to see one of the greatest musicals of all time in the theater,
on its original run. "Moulin Rouge" is not simply a great
film. It is a living, breathing, bold work of art that rushes on adrenaline
and exhilaration from the first frame to the last, taking no prisoners
and putting you through an emotional gauntlet the likes of which I
have not personally seen since "Titanic".
Those of you who know me know what an achievement this film therefore
represents.
"Moulin Rouge" may not do everything right. I vaguely remember
having some problems with the film during the first twenty minutes.
Now, however, thinking back through everything that
I saw and with the last hour or so of the film still vivid in my mind,
I have no earthly idea what those flaws were. The film appears to
me now as a flawless, gorgeous diamond. It is prone to flights of
delirious fancy and it is often edited with even MORE cuts than the
average Michael Bay film. But all the rapid cuts and bizarre happenings
in the world could not suppress this movie's heart. This movie has
a heart and soul the size of Texas. Each cinematic trick is put to
great effect, each of them MATTER. The movie understands when to use
rapid fire editing and when to allow the movie time to breathe. The
film understands fundamentals of building characters. It understands
how to build them so well, in fact, that I was so swept up in their
plights, so moved by them, that I no longer thought of the actors
as actors. I could not remember Ewan McGregor or Nicole Kidman. I
only knew Satine and Christian. It sucks you into a world of melodrama
and menace and it raises the stakes and makes you care what happens
at the end. The end is your reason for existing in the course of these
two hours. You
MUST discover how all this turns out. There is no other choice. Once
you start to care about Christian and Satine (oh, and you most certainly
will) there are no other people on earth.
This movie is about Love and Music and the way those two are sometimes
interchangeable.
It is about the inconvenience of loving someone, truly loving someone.
It is about loving someone so deeply that nothing else in the world
matters. And none of this would matter if the movie didn't make us
BELIEVE so deeply that two characters were so much in love. I have
not believed it this whole-heartedly since "Titanic". These
characters were made for one another. Each of them contains the pieces
that are missing from the other. Satine is a shrewd, talented woman
who has done everything she has had to in order to make her mark and
has prostituted herself out for her dreams. Christian is an idealistic
young poet. So idealistic, in fact, that he wins Satine and ourselves
in the audience over with his ideals and his charms.
Hell, I can't see how a woman could hear him singing Elton John's
"Your Song" and not completely fall for him. I was beginning
to doubt my own sexual preference during that moment. And we can see
how Christian would fall for Satine, a dreamer like himself who has
had to go through a tougher time in order for the chance to realize
her own dreams. They are both frail and mesmerizing creatures caught
in a trap and in love at the worst possible time.
There is an immeasurable beauty to their performances that makes it
all explode off the screen and capture you. Ewan and Nicole both deserve
Oscars at the end of this year.
Period.
And both of them can sing!!! They use their own voices and both of
them sing like angels.
The sheer beauty of their singing and the sumptuous flow of the melodies
is emotionally arresting. Using modern pop songs, giving them new
arrangements, and having them show up in 1900 Paris seems like a hell
of a gamble. This could so easily have fallen on its face. But Baz
Luhrmann is a sort of whirling genius here. I'll be damned if this
doesn't actually WORK!
More than one song sent shivers down my spine. Hell, not just my spine.
My whole damn body was shivering and quaking with the beautiful marriage
of song, lyric and visual splendor!
This movie starts out as the funnest ride you've taken in quite some
time and then, to my vast surprise and delight, it became something
far more. It's spirit is what makes it so awesome.
There are moments of audacious hilarity here and then there are moments
of despair. There are moments of glee and moments of desperation.
The entire emotional spectrum is run here and I emerged on the other
side a shaken, stirred wreck with tears glistening in my eyes. The
songs do not come out of nowhere, nor do they halt the flow of the
narrative. They enhance it, they add to it. They are what helps it
to live. This movie would have been an A+ without the songs, but with
them it is even better. This is some of the best musical work I have
ever seen. I would rank it right up there with "Singin' in the
Rain" and "Little
Shop of Horrors".
There is not an aspect of the film that does not work. It's a whirling
dervish of a film. A fever dream of an artistic genius! It is the
reason I love musicals so much in the first place. It is a reminder
of how genuinely marvelous a musical can be when it works. When a
musical doesn't work, it is nothing more than a gimmick. This film
transcends the gimmicks and provides soul-stirring entertainment.
Every performer is great (even John Leguizamo). Every moment is a
miracle. Every song vibrates the spine like a tuning fork.
In summary: WOW.
