Simply Astounding

Rating: 10/10 (5 August 2002)

When this film first came out, I didn't hear much about it. Once Oscar season started, it seemed as if I had lived in a hole. Everyone was talking about this film. I still hadn't seen it, and the only thing it was to me was competition for my favorite of the year, "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring."
However, about a month later, I finally saw the movie everyone had hailed for nearly a year. It seemed as if everyone I knew had seen and loved this film.
I rented it, and from the first moment it started, I was entranced. Every moment of this film kept me hanging on, and sending me through a whirlwind of sights, sounds, and delights for every sensory part of my brain. I truly believe that this may be one of the greatest artistic films of ourtime.
I've been accused of being an "artsy-fartsy" person, so maybe that's just the artistic side of me talking. But even if it is, there is not a single time when I have seen this movie that I have not been moved to tears, be it from the story or the beauty of the movie itself.
First, let me address Ewan McGregor's performance. Regrettably, the only thing I had seen him in prior to this was, ahem, "Star Wars: The Phantom Menace." Imagine my surprise when the little Jedi belted out "Your Song," a favorite of mine, and promptly caused me to melt into a puddle of shapeless goo. I still swoon every time I hear his voice. Who knew Obi-Wan could sing, on top of act the part amazingly? Not I, certainly.
Opposite him, I could have chosen no one better than the lovely and talented Nicole Kidman. Definitive Satine? YES. Simple as that. Her voice and her actions made me truly believe and love the character, even when she wasn't entirely lovable.
John Leguizamo was simply superb as Toulouse-Lautrec, especially for someone who traipsed about on their knees throughout the entire film.
I agree with many of Hollywood's best and brightest when they say that Jim Broadbent's Oscar this year was not only for "Iris," but for this film as well. Fatherly, comedic, and boss-like all at the same time, and managing to do it all with a large mustache and potbelly as well.
One cannot mention the cast without mentioning the incomparable Richard Roxburgh and his incredibly hilarious yet amazingly imposing (at times) performance as the sinister Duke.
Every singer, every dancer, every actor, every actress in this film was perfect. Not a single hair was out of place. Which leaves the director and magic maker himself, Baz Luhrmann. Not many modern directors would set out to do a project like this. Perhaps thirty years ago, but not now. This was probably the biggest risk in his (and everyone else that worked on it, too) career. Maybe the public is split down the middle, between those that love it and those that couldn't sit through twenty minutes of it, but this reviewer and movie viewer knows that this will go down in history as one of the greatest films of our time.