It works. That's all I can say to assure you.

Rating: 10/10 (13 July 2009)

Baz Luhrmann and Nicole Kidman. In Moulin Rouge!, they are both at their peak. Unfortunately lately, they've been in a slump. Their last film was Australia, a stunning failure. A western mashed sloppily into a war epic trying to chronicle the history of the country/continent. Kidman was humiliated by her performance; she knew how far she had fallen. She fled her native country, Australia, during the premier. She couldn't take the criticism. It was very disappointing. If you're wondering who Baz Luhrmann is, he is the director of Strictly Ballroom, Romeo+Juliet, and the aforementioned movies, plus the very bizarre tribute to musicals at the last Oscars. Oh, and that weird song "Everybody's Free (To Wear Sunscreen)" that was kinda popular once.
But that really is neither here nor there, because this is Moulin Rouge!, made seven years before Australia and is seven times better. There have been at least five movies titled "Moulin Rouge," though this one is distinct as it's the only one that includes an exclamation mark in the title. And features the music of Elton John, Madonna, and every love song ever written, set mostly to house music.
Now let's, again, back up. Moulin Rouge! is about a boy, Christian (Ewan McGregor), from a small town who has gone to Paris to be a Bohemian writer. So as he sits, lost, in his apartment, and Argentinean falls through his roof. He's then commandeered into acting, then writing a play ("Spectacular Spectacular") for Toulouse-Lautrec (John Leguizamo), who is oddly changed from a painter to an actor. But anyway. Then he's sent to win the most beautiful courtesan in Paris, Satine (Nicole Kidman), from the Moulin Rouge (a dance club in this version), so she will act in their play, despite the change in writers. This happens in a matter of minutes, also allowing for the scene where the troupe trips on absinthe.
It's a bizarre musical about freedom, beauty, truth, and most of all, love. And it's stunning. It takes you by surprise. You really do have to pay attention the entire time; it's very easy to miss something important in the frantic, kinetic, colorful mess on screen. I wonder how Baz Luhrmann convinced the other producers to jump onto this movie. "No really, it'll be amazing. Look, we'll start with him in his apartment singing 'Nature Boy' by Nat King Cole, then this guy'll fall through his roof and he'll sing 'The Sound of Music' and they'll get on absinthe. No, and then there'll be this medley type number mixing up Nirvana and Madonna... and, oh my god you guys, it's gonna be great." "Umm... Okay..."
And yet, everything really does work. All the elements fall together in a crazy chaotic way. It's a tragi-comedy, and there's a musical-within- a-musical. The movie starts loud, and crescendos like a symphony. It's the reason people expected so much from Australia, how could the Kidman- Luhrmann partnership failed after such a masterpiece? It's a theater piece, really. But it works. It works. That's all I can do to assure you. It's a top class movie.