Immerse yourself in Emotion- Spectacular film

Rating: 10/10 (3 January 2002)

"This story is about love...the woman I loved is.....dead." That's the first line of this film, and sets the tone.
This is a better movie than I imagined. It sells itself as a colorful drama, but it's a musical through and through. It's officially a TragiComiDramaMusical, or that's what the critics call it, but it gets to your heartstrings and senses and kicks them.
Baz Luhrmann had a theory for this film, that music and razzle dazzle and color will create a heightened experience, and it worked. People may pay more attention to it for it's astounding technical abilities, but I was mainly captivated by it's music, acting, and it's storyline. Not to say I didn't like the color and razor sharp editing, quite the contrary. I was purely amazed at what they achieved. But that they could go over that and send a clear cut and emotional story with superb acting, is something you rarely see in any "super charged" films.
The story is loosely based on the Greek Tragedy about Orhpeus. It revolves around the young Christian (Ewan McGregor) who enters the world of the Moulin Rouge and Montmarte to become a great writer. He befriends some strange Bohemians and is assigned to write a show for the MR called "Spectacular! Spectacular!". He has to recruit the courtesan Satine, but falls in love with her. Eventually they both become enmeshed in their love for each other, the dirty and treacherous goings on of the MR, and the making of the show. After betrayal and intrigue, the film ends with a tragic ending you knew was coming from Christian's first line: "This story is about love...the woman I loved is.....dead."
The acting is much better than I expected. People had been talking about how Kidman could get a Oscar nomination for her performance in this, but I had thought "Why? It's a musical. There's no such thing as good acting in musicals." Nicole shines. She goes through several stages in the film and is always believable at the level she chooses. Especially in her TB scenes, where she plays sick, she does a very unglamorous and ugly portrayal of the disease. She does comedy and seduction and heroism in one role, and it's not at all cliche. McGregor particularly surprised me. I had known he was a good actor, but not as good as he is in this film. He also goes through stages, and pulls it off with his ability to act completly natural. He's by far one of the best natural actors I've ever seen, and some of his body language and facial gestures do the role a great deal of good. It's hard to act "innocent" without getting terribly annoying, and he's never annoying, but maybe because he's more of a decent and kind character than the stereotypical "innocent". Supporting characters shine, and John Leguizamo deserves a thumbs up for a particularly painful but strong performance (if you hear how they shortened him). Jim Broadbent, who plays the enabling and sweet pimp Zidler (it's tough to call him that, but that's what he is), is fantastic, and Richard Roxborough who plays the Duke, is notorious and does a wonderful job at being completely and one hundred percent devious.
This movie shines, and it addicts you. Many people have said you either love it or hate it, and I'd say it's true. It will either overwhelm you, or you'll like it for all it is. It's supposed to be overboard. It's supposed to have that "If it exists we'll use it just because." That's the whole point. It's a beautiful film, and it's very true, it follows how life works. There are people who'll be bad to you, and people who will love you, and not everything works as you want it. It's supposed to be an experience, not just a date at the movies. Ever wonder why they have the "!" at the end of the film? You have to see it, then you can't say it any other way.