Moulin Rouge (2001)
Ewan McGregor, Nicole Kidman, Jim Broadbent, John Leguizamo; d. Baz Luhrmann; A+

If there’s one genre this film geek loves in the world more than anything else, it’s the musical. Sure, I love those psychological thrillers, character studies, gangster films, and Twilight Zone-esque sci-fi films, but no genre makes me more happier or more excited than the delightful musical. "Back in the day," musicals were very popular. When vinyl synchronized sound with celluloid, Hollywood responded by singing and dancing till their hearts content . Hollywood cranked out musicals then like they crank out romantic comedies now. Audiences would flock to wet their pants with Hitchcock’s Psycho, and then a year later willingly be wrapped up in a West Side Story. There was no realism required, all you had to do was plop down on your seat and be emerced in the magical world of a musical, where singing and dancing were a form of communication just as much as dialogue, and frequently much more would be said by a few lyrics or a few dance steps than dialogue could ever say in that situation. The musical had its heyday in the 30’s right up through the 60’s, then petered out in the 1970’s while Broadway director/choreographer Bob Fosse was still adapting Broadway hits (hits that he directed/choreographed himself) like Sweet Charity and Cabaret, teenagers flocked, for some reason, to see Grease, and cult audiences salivated over The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Gawd, I wish I would have lived in those days when a live action musical came out every few weeks, instead of having to deal with musical for kiddies. Since society has become too cynical and thirsty for reality, the musical has been pushed back to kiddie fare. Disney animated cartoons like The Lion King (but hey anything with music by Hans Zimmer can’t be that bad... musically), Beauty and The Beast, et al, are for the most part the only kid of musicals we get, and it seems even Disney’s getting rid of the musical and welcoming in reality with their mediocre Atlantis: The Lost Empire. Only recently have we seen any kind of renewed interest in the live action musical with Everyone Says I Love You, Evita and Dancer in the Dark. Luckily, in modern times we have out own version of Bob Fosse behind the camera: the wildly eccentric Baz Luhrmann, director of operas and films like Strictly Ballroomand William Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet. Now, he’s released what right now is pretty much his masterpiece, the Fosse-times-ten-on-speed-LSD-and-other-hallucinory-drugs musical Moulin Rouge, a visually stunning musical masterpiece that stays true to the genre while boasting an interesting mix of late twentieth century radio/pop/rock tunes (from Phil Collins to Nirvana), 20^th Century Fox showtunes ("The Sound of Music," "Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend," "Love is a Many-Splendored Thing") and original songs by Luhrmann, Craig Pearce, and Craig Armstrong, and performances as amazing as the visuals.

The man who shouldn’t go down in history as Obie-Wan, Ewan McGregor, plays Christian, an English poet/writer (with a heavy Scottish accent) who flees from the condescending lectures of his father to Montmatre, Paris, only to find himself heartbroken in his dingy apartment. From the year 1900 he writes of 1899, "the summer of love," where he arrives naïve and doe-eyed in amazement in finding himself right smack dab in the middle of the "bohemian revolution." While attempting to write in his apartment of truth, beauty, freedom, and that which he believes in above all things yet hasn’t experience yet, love, a job opportunity literally crashes through his roof. A small group of bohemians, lead by real-life French artist Henri Toulouse-Lartrec (John Leguizamo; yes that is he, just digitally shortened), are producing a play in the upstairs apartment, but are in able to finish it due to artistic differences, laziness, and a narcoleptic Argentinean (Jacek Koman). Luckily, they happen to crash into Christian, who turns out to be a talented writer and just what they need to make their play, entitled Spectacular Spectacular, well, spectacular. Of course, what isn’t explained to the audience is that Spectacular Spectacular has a particular purpose of being the first play to be produced in Paris’s infamous nightclub, the Moulin Rouge, when flamboyant owner Harold Zidler (Jim Broadbent) has the means to turn it into a theater. In order for Christian to get the job, Zidler needs to be convinced of Christian’s talent, and here in comes the woman Christian loved, the drop-dead gorgeous courtesan and talented actress on the side Satine (Nicole Kidman). Toulouse makes a plan to pass Christian off as a famous English writer (with a heavy Scottish accent) and have him read his best poetry to Satine. Satine, being "dumb with wonderment" at Christian’s poetry, will convince Zidler to let Christian write the play, thus securing Christian the job. The only problem is that the night Christian is supposed to knock Satine out with his modern poetry (and literally knocked out she is, twice, but not by Christian), Satine waits in anticipation for someone else. The Duke of ??? (Richard Roxburgh) is slotted to meet up with Satine in the famed (and real) "Elephant." A particular important meeting this is, since, after all, Zidler is hoping that the Duke will invest in the play and the conversion of the nightclub into a theater. Fortunately for Christian and Satine, a hankie makes the flaw in making Satine mistake Christian for the Duke. A hilarious but predictable case of mistaken identity ensues in the Elephant, where Christian makes an attempt to wow Satine with his poetry while Satine finds it all oddly arousing. A confused and frustrated Christian then whips out his singing skillz with "Your Song," which accidentally (or purposefully) makes Satine (and anyone else who has a crush on Ewan McGregor) fall in love with Christian. Unfortunately, not too long after Christian stops channeling Elton John and clears up titles does the Duke waltz into Satine’s room in the Elephant, humorously looking for love, while Christian finds interesting places to hide. When the Duke, cast out by a frustrated Satine, returns in the room to see Christian on top of a passed-out Satine (trying to revive her), he suspects of foul play, but Satine, recovering from her blackout, is able to think on her toes, saving the situation by convincing the Duke not only is there no "foul play" between her and Christian (as there will be), but also to invest in the play. Luckily, the Duke, who is not only very psychotic but extremely dumb witted, invests, but insists that Satine be contracted solely to him. Little does the Duke know that the penniless sitar player and the courtesan are conducting a love affair right under his nose while the play is going on, and little does anyone else know besides Zidler and a doctor that Satine is severely ill and dying. But, as Zidler insists and eventually sings, "The show must go on."

With Moulin Rouge, the so-called "Red Curtain" style of filmmaking that Luhrmann has exhibited in his past three films has come full circle, but as a director, Luhrmann still has room for improvement, but shows extreme potential in this movie. I think the biggest flaw in his direction, and writing, in this film is the editing and pacing. While I didn’t mind the fast editing much, I think it really hindered many of the dance numbers, especially during the "Zidler’s Rap" number. The can-can is mentioned many times, yet I never understood the importance of it because I could not see it very well. The pacing is probably the biggest flaw, with hilarious scenes frequently being sandwiched in between dark ones. This does not include the "Roxanne" number, which is explained later on in this review. The problem with the script is that the plot tends to get confusing, especially the Spectacular Spectacular angle. The play isn’t explained at all outside of the plot. The audience never is explained how Zidler or Satine knew about the play, nor why Zidler wanted to turn the Moulin Rouge into a theater, nor what the original plot was, nor what the importance of "The hills are alive with the sound of music" was to the play. Also confusing about that last line is how it makes Christian a great writer. It’s common knowledge that it was written by someone else, and things written by Christian that aren’t in song format (or are, like "Come What May") do not convince any further. The brilliance of the script, though, is that many of the plot elements represent things that actually happened or existed during the time the film takes place. One thing I would have liked to see in the script, though, is a bit more complexity in the plot as well as the characters. But, the story and characters are, kind of, fine just the way they are.

No doubt the best thing about this movie is its visuals. Catherine Martin’s (Baz Luhrmann’s wife) Oscar-worthy sets, which were demolished quickly after filming to make room for the next Star Wars picture, are a wonder to look at. So is Donald McAlpine’s gorgeous cinematography, with great use of sepia tones in some scenes, lush blues and reds in many others, and the rest in full vivid color. The best thing visually about this film is its amazing use of matte paintings, miniatures, editing, and computer animation to create the film’s own otherworldly version of Paris. The opening sequence is probably the most stunning of all, as well as a superb continuous shot during the "Come What May" number where the camera zooms out of Christian and Satine standing by the window sill of Christian’s apartment and meets them again singing on a hill with the Duke.

On Moulin Rouge’s scrumptious plate is not only great visuals but outstanding performances. Not a repeat of 96’s acting disaster Romeo + Juliet, the performances in Moulin Rouge masterfully flesh out the old-as-dirt archetypes to create characters we actually care for. John Leguizamo, who gave the only excellent performance in Romeo + Juliet, delivers another fine performance as the zany and lovable Toulouse-Lartrec. Jim Broadbent as Harold Zidler is also superb. The best performance in the supporting cast comes from Richard Roxburgh as the Duke. Too bad people are blinded by the apparent obnoxiousness of the Duke to see Roxburgh’s superbly tense performance. Of course, there’s no scene stealers in this film, the leads to great jobs themselves. I have not seen many Nicole Kidman films, just To Die For, in which she was excellent. However, she tops that performance with Moulin Rouge. Despite her character being expectedly underwritten, she’s given the most dramatic material to sink her teeth in and delivers. But unsurprisingly the best performance comes from Ewan McGregor, who actually gives the best performance that I’ve seen him in as of yet. Definitely an Oscar contender in my mind, McGregor brings depth to Christian just like Kidman brings depth to Satine. If the ending alone isn’t enough to warrant a nomination for McGregor, I don’t know what else is.

The vocal performances by all of the lead cast are surprisingly excellent. Believe it or not the cast was bold enough to do their own vocals instead of doing the easy way out and lip synching to someone else’s voice. Nicole Kidman, debuting her voice professionally, handles her vocals nicely, despite her rather thin voice. Unfortunately several songs on the roster tend to send Kidman where her vocal chords cannot take her. Jim Broadbent’s vocals are not very surprising; his voice is very strong but I assume he might have sung before in movies or on stage. John Leguizamo, while not singing much, does a fine job singing "Nature Boy" during the opening of the film. Ewan McGregor again gets high honors as the most stunning vocalist in this film. McGregor is not particularly a new find, considering that he’s sung a little in some of his other films as well as on an album with Little Voice co-star Jane Horrocks, but using his voice for a musical definitely puts his already used voice in a new light. McGregor combines charm (and he sure does have a lot of charm) with high emotion to come out with a convincing vocal mix that only adds to his superb performance. The only problem is that the pre-production’s obvious lack of serious vocal training brings down not only McGregor’s vocals but Kidman’s as well. Again, Kidman’s voice tends to petter out on high notes, and McGregor frequently results into scratchy and yelpy (lots of yelping) vocals that are almost painful to listen to.

Of course, there is more to musicals than just singing. There’s also the music and the numbers. The concept of using well-known pop songs in a musical annoyed me at first, but the way Luhrmann and long-time script collaborator Craig Pearce use them won me over. When "Roxanne" comes on the radio, all you may get from it is a great song by the Police. When it is used in Moulin Rouge, if you’re not paying attention and don’t get what’s going to happen within the set up of the number (the Argentinean tries to tell a frazzled Christian of the emotional turmoil of loving "a woman who sells herself," while Satine is in the "Gothic Tower" trying to save Spectacular Spectacular after a tense incident during a dress rehearsal where the Duke discovers the truth about Christian and Satine, by telling him about "a dance in the brothels of Buenos Aries" of a man and his emotional turmoil when he falls in love with a prostitute), you think of it as a funny reference to the Police. However, it is not. "Roxanne" is used brilliantly in an artistically well-done number that parallels the emotions felt by Christian towards Satine and her being a courtesan, sung with raspy and raw emotion by Kokman, while being superbly intermingled with an original song written by Luhrmann, Pearce, and Craig Armstrong (who wrote the score and arranged the songs) and sung with scratchy emotion by McGregor. Add to this a rather terrifying incident involving the Duke and Satine, as well as John O’Connell’s sultry tango that visually tells the "Roxanne" story. While "El Tango De Roxanne" may be the best number artistically and musically, there are several other noteworthy scenes that use pop songs as well as originals. "Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend" is used for fun value for Satine’s entrance in an ironic mingling between that and "Material Girl," but the shallow lyrics are brought out more at the end when the audience sees the play bringing an extra meaning. "Like a Virgin" is the movie’s comedic high point despite being sandwiched in between some of the film’s darkest moments. "Zidler’s Rap" is a fun, toe-tapping medley where Jim Broadbent "raps" about the Moulin Rouge to the medley/beat of "Lady Marmalade," "Smells Like Teen Spirit" (with great use of the line "Here we are now/entertain us"), and Fatboy Slim’s "Because We Can" (because we can can-can, after all). The half-original (lyrics), half-not (music) "The Pitch" is likewise as fun and hilarious. Oscar contend-ah "Come What May" has been known to melt "cynical hearts," and why not? It’s the most beautiful and heartfelt song on the soundtrack, in spite of the fact that many could write the lyrics in their sleep. The score and arrangements by Armstrong are wonderful, but tend to get on the overdramatic side. "The Show Must Go On" is powerful but Armstrong’s near-campy string arrangements almost ruined the number. The only big problem I have with the score is the use of techno. While I love techno, and loved the programming in the score, the use of it during the performance of Spectacular Spectacular near the end of the film, as well as the "Zidler’s Rap" number, makes me a bit uneasy, considering how the film, even if it used twentieth century pop songs, displayed many things that were in existence when the film took place. Electric lights existed, the Elephant existed, beat boxes and turntables did not. But, hey, that’s just a minor quibble.

It’s hard to say who will and who won’t enjoy this film. Reviews have been mixed, even though the positive side has been the loudest. As a person who has admittedly seen this movie seven times at the time of this review, of course I would recommend it! I think this is definitely a cinematic experience not to be missed.

© Vert A Go Go Reviews 2001