Moulin
Rouge is a film about love as well as overcoming the
obstacles the get in love's way. The story is nothing new; it's
a case of boy meets girl, boy and girl fall in love, forces tear
the two apart, and they try to find ways to circumvent that
which is keeping them apart. Ewan McGregor play a penniless
writer by the name of Christian who, by chance, meets with a
beautiful courtesan named Satine (Nicole Kidman) and the two
fall in love. However, in order to turn his beloved Moulin Rouge
into a real theater, Harold Zidler (Jim Broadbent) make an
arrangement with The Duke (Richard Roxburgh). The Duke wants
only one thing - Satine. Now the two lovers must find a way to
stay together, without the overly jealous Duke finding out.
I
must first begin by saying that the first 15 mins of Moulin
Rouge is an anarchistic music video. We find ourselves
flying over and around and into 1900's Montmartre, Paris.
These flying shots would be repeated later in the film ad
nauseam. It is nice to see it once or possibly twice, but
Luhrman felt that we needed to see it practically every time
once scene transitions to another. Once inside the Moulin Rouge,
that's when the true video begins. With a mixture of Lady
Marmalade and Smells Like Teen Spirit, we find ourselves and
Christian trapped in the sensory overload that is the Moulin
Rouge. This whole segment is a mess of jump cuts that toss your
from side to side, over and under, and all around. It's a roller coaster
into a funhouse from hell and just when you think it'll never
end, Satine appears and everything changes.
Although
I felt it was a cheap way out of writing original material, the
use of music was clever and I found myself occasionally singing
along. One number I found the most entertaining was a duet
between Broadbent's Zidler and Roxburgh's Duke about Satine by
using Madonna's "Like a Virgin." Both Ewan McGregor
and Nicole Kidman are excellent singers and bring the songs to
life in ways that even the original artists may not have been
able to.
John
Leguizamo is fun as Toulouse, but every time he spoke, my mind
drifted to Titan A.E. and I couldn't help but think of Gune.
Even more then our two leads, I found myself enjoying Zidler.
Jim Broadbent is gleefully over the top as he seems to bounce
around the world that is Moulin Rouge.
One
big complaint that I had with the film was it's length. At 2
hours and 6 mins, I found myself becoming antsy and dreading the
next musical number. I enjoyed the music, but found that the
film could have done without one or two musical segments that
seemed to drag the film rather then support it.
This
is definitely a film to check out. The performances are strong,
the music is good, and the visuals are beautiful. The film does
have it's share of flaws, but the positive aspects outweigh the
negative. I highly recommend this film.
