MAGNIFICENT!!!!!!!!!!!!

Rating: 10/10 (9 October 2002)

Moulin Rouge is absolutely, overwhelmingly the most fantastical film that I have ever seen. I cannot believe that I missed this movie in theaters and never bothered renting it. I was so blown away by this film - which is funny, because it wasn't until I watched this movie that I remembered that as a child, I adored John Houston's Moulin Rouge. That was a very different movie, where if memory serves me right, I felt very drawn and empathetic towards Toulouse Lautrec and the Can Can girls. But it's ironic to see a movie about the same place and same period of time that is so true to the spirit of the Moulin Rouge and yet absolutely different and original from any of the movies that came before it.
The cinematography is breathtaking. I know some people criticized it as being too much but I could not get enough of it. And Nicole Kidman was born to be Satine. Ewan McGregor made me feel like I was a little girl getting a childhood crush all over again for the first time. I cannot stress how much I enjoyed seeing these two opposite one another. They're not a pair I ever would've thought of, but they work so beautifully opposite each other. The music is Wonderful. So totally cool to hear Nirvana and Elton John and Marilyn's calling card and Material Girl all blended into a kind of crazy insanely cool operatic opus of modern culture. Baz Luhrman is in a league of his own and his vision is nothing short of extraordinary. I enjoyed his Romeo and Juliet due to the visuals and his unique vision of an often told story, but with Moulin Rouge he has graduated straight from grade school to a Master's Degree.
Entirely it's own world - absolutely wonderful. But most of all, exquisite. He has totally resurrected and redefined the genre of the musical and it is an astounding pleasure. And Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor earned my undying support for taking a chance and committing themselves one hundred percent to the story. I'm so thrilled that it paid off for all of them and their hard work.
A high recommend. And a gushing 10