An outrageous, garish, bombastic, and redeeming movie...

Rating: Null/10 (23 June 2001)

I'm coming down from a two-week period of obsession with this movie that included four viewings (two at the first sitting), not counting one viewing by my wife, three copies of the CD (one from my 10 year-old son for father's day), the hardcover picture book ($35 at Barnes and Noble), and countless discussions with friends, family, and co-workers, proselytizing for the movie. What can I say? I love it. Or to put it better, I love this movie and what it tries to do. It succeeds at much of it (enough of it?), and as for the rest, well, as they say, it's the thought that counts. I have found one central flaw in the film, which is that what is termed "love" and indeed feels like love in this story is actually "love at first sight" which I would say is not true, mature, real love like the love that married couples share over the daily grind of life for decades and decades. Satine "lies" to Zidler that her love for Christian is just "a little infatuation", without realizing that that's what it probably is. However, circumstances don't give these lovers a chance to grow into the real thing, and so they have to settle for what they get. Come to think of it, Romeo and Juliet had the same problem. Despite this flaw, it was not hard for me to do what Baz Luhrmann said in his book and suspend disbelief and skepticism, and go with the flow. Nicole and Ewan I found to be hugely likeable, and the chemistry between them was great. The movie was full to overflowing with characters, events, and sheer life! As a big fan of Strictly Ballroom, I was not completely taken by surprise, but it seemed to be the next step in the evolution of Luhrmann, and the entire production company seemed to take the leap with him. This was a very coherent performance; you could see on the face of every extra that they were completely into it. When I heard the children's choir behind Ewan in Your Song, I was touched, but later had the thought that this could have easily (and conveniently) been computer-synthesized. In the book there was a photo of the production of that song; there was the choir, and it was real, as was the entire show. I must agree with the review by moonlight reflections-- as kitschy as it seemed, there was something very honest about this film. It was honestly trying to tell us about truth, beauty, freedom, and love, for our own betterment. It was an act of emotional generosity by someone bursting with the message. To cite one particular scene, the first time I saw it (it seems a long time ago), after the Tango de Roxanne, I said out loud in the theater, "this man is a genius". I hold to that statement. I have several favorite directors, and I can't think of one who could have pulled off this powerful, riveting, upsetting scene. This was not the only moment of genius in this film. If you haven't seen it, see it. If you have seen it, see it again. You won't regret it.