Moulin Rouge brings the art of film to a new level

Rating: 10/10 (27 December 2001)

One of the best films of the 90's and I will tell you why. First of all, one of the most important things to remember is that this is part of Baz Luhrmann's Red Curtain series (along with Strictly Ballroom and Romeo and Juliet) in which he strives to make the audience aware that they are in fact watching a movie. He has used dancing, Shakespeare's language, and musical numbers in the three movies in the series respectively to do this. But Moulin Rouge does more. Luhrman creates a cinema in Moulin Rouge which is a feast for the eyes and a feast for the mind. He has an acute sense of spectacle in the piece. He takes the genre of "cinema" and moves it forward in. Saying that it's ok to make a musical in 2001, and ok to take the film in and out of fantasy whenever he wants. It's this pushing forward that makes the movie so great with new innovations in editing, sounds, graphics, and storytelling. It also helps that he had a fantastic cast including the wonderful talents of Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor, who not only perform well on an acting plane, but sing beautifully. Even their singing style does not imitate that of the classical musicals. It is the film of the future in many ways and it starts right now.