Ladies and Gentlemen of the film going public of 2001. If you remember one thing I tell you today, remember this: see Moulin Rouge

Rating: Null/10 (30 May 2001)

Ladies and Gentlemen of the film going public of 2001. If you remember one thing I tell you today, remember this: see Moulin Rouge.
If Mercutio can do ecstasy with Romeo and sing disco songs in drag, then why can't a love story set in Paris of 1899 be a splashy rock opera with 80's and 90's pop songs? Director Baz Luhrmann showed his flair for anachronism with his 1996 adaptation of William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet, and uses it as the heart and soul of his latest film, Moulin Rouge.
Satine (Nicole Kidman) is a beautiful courtesan and star dancer of the decadent Paris nightclub. She is conned by artist Toulouse-Lautrec (John Leguizamo, kneeling inside prosthetic legs to make him look shorter) into seducing a ruthless and powerful Duke, convincing him to back a musical written by a fledgling writer, Christian (Ewan McGregor). The Duke agrees, but at a price, Satine is to be his and only his. Faster than you can say Stephen Sondheim, Satine falls in love with the Christian, after being wooed by his genius poetry (actually, lyrics from songs by David Bowie, U2, Paul McCartney and Wings, among others).
Luhrmann keeps the story moving at break-neck speed, switching back and forth from Busby Berkeley-styled musical numbers, romantic melodrama, and the high camp of French comedy. The effects can be emotionally distancing (as most musicals are), since there is twice as much singing as there is dialogue. But what Moulin Rouge lacks in character development, it more than makes up for with earnest performances and sumptuous visuals. Kidman's timeless beauty and McGregor's energy bring charm to their stock characters. As visual stylist, Luhrmann has few peers (the Coen Brothers and Lars von Trier among them). His use of visual effects, camera moves and editing, steam roll through what would be static, expository moments in a film by a lesser director. The costumes, sets and elaborately choreographed and photographed dance numbers, make Moulin Rouge like nothing you're likely to see this summer, or this year. A strange hybrid of Cabaret and The Rocky Horror Picture Show, where lascivious nightclub patrons sing Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and grown men wrap themselves in makeshift veils to sing Madonna's "Like A Virgin."
Some of what I've said in this review may not make sense to you. But take my word, about Moulin Rouge.