`Cabaret 2001'  Almost thirty years later

Rating: 10/10 (29 June 2002)

The first thing that struck me about the movie (I wanted to see it at the theaters but just never got around to it, so on a whim, picked up the video recently and it has now turned into one of the movies I'm obsessed with), was how much it reminded me of `Cabaret'. Not because of the plot, or anything that could refer back to the 1972 movie (except maybe that both are period pieces: `Cabaret' during the decadent times right before the rise of the Nazi movement; and `Moulin Rouge' during the fin-de-siècle decadent bohemian times), but just the fact that it presented itself as a musical that totally throws itself in your face. Why TC ever split with Ms. Kidman is beyond me  she is truly magnificent (her voice in some of the songs she performs sounds rather like Madonna during the early years  not bad). Funny, I've always had an aversion to the idea of visiting Paris (ever!), but after seeing this movie, I kinda, sorta want to go now. Perhaps I, too, can eventually say, `The greatest thing you'll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return.' This is not for the faint of heart when it comes to drama, but it could just be me  I cry at the drop of a hat. It's actually an amusing *dramedy* that anyone who watches it, and who is prone to suspension of disbelief, would pray for death-by-consumption if only to die in the arms of a Ewan McGregor.