Disappointing,because it had a huge potential

Rating: 6/10 (22 October 2001)

*MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS*
Musicals. This kind of films have disappeared almost completely in the last 30 years of so.They were very popular in the 50's & 60's but from the 70's onward it is hard to find a good adaptation of a stage musical on the silver screen. The place is too short to explain why, but it has to do with the fact that musicals are a very unrealistic medium which didn't go well with the realistic themes that ruled the movie industry from the 70's.

I like musicals, some of my all time favorite films are musicals. So one can only imagine how delighted I was when I heard that Baz Luhrman was making a musical. For me he is the one director that can revive the musicals and bring it to a modern audience. However I have a mix feeling about the end result and it has to do with some of the decisions Luhrman took when he made the film. Some of his decisions are both to the advantage and to the disadvantage of the film.It should be said at this point that this is not a regular musical but a one that correspond with others musical and other forms of music. So the decision to build Paris and film everything on a set in Australia and not in actual Paris is a direct continuance to what use to be done in the old days. Some of the great musicals of the past were completely filmed in one of Hollywood's studio were all the set was build(beside in real Paris the end scene, the one with the gun, could never have happened). Also the prime decision to set the story among people and places who actually existed(i.e:Toulouse Lautrec, The Moulin Rouge and Monmartre) was a good one, however this decision also back fire because Lautrec and his Bohemians were prominent in Paris of the 1899 but from the movie you can not understand how important their ideas were and anyone who doesn't know what they were talking about would have the impression that they were simply a caricature, which is how they are been portrayed in this film.
Luhrman use modern songs instead of a completely new material. That for itself isn't bad. That may bring young audience, however again a one which turn against the film. Instead of using one song for each scene,Luhrman decided to build a layer of songs for most of the scenes. That way the film becomes a quiz: "Which song is this? and which one is that?". By using only a sentence from each song Luhrman manage to alienate the young audience who come expecting for his beloved tunes only to find out that he was cheated.(In the screening I was present,the young audience was slowly leaving because he lost interest).In several scenes there is only one song, and those scenes are the one that show what could have happened if that was the case all through the film(I am referring to the scenes where you can hear: Roxane,The Show Must Go On and to some extent also the ones where Like A Virgin,Your Song and the Can Can are performed. They are the best scenes in the film and I can only wish that the whole film was like those scenes).
Every scene is so packed with colors and movement that in a certain moment my eyes got so tired and I couldn't, any longer, pay attention to what happened on the screen.Shame , because there is so much going on and is composed in a way that meant to attract the eyes but the effect is quite the opposite.
The acting is good in general, though as I said before the characters are merely caricatures and the actors are doing well with what they have, which is not much. Nicole Kidman is excellent as Satine and she sing well but not on the high notes. Ewan McGregor have a nice voice but a little one dimensional and flat. Unfortunately Kidman put him under her shadow which result with a week character in compare to her Satine.
Whether you go to this film or not it is your decision. You may like it or not. Just be prepared for what comes. I still hope that Luhrman will make another musical and that it would be better than this one.