Difficult to judge, I feel

Rating: Null/10 (15 August 2003)

Spoilers! (Possibly)
Exactly what kind of film am I watching?, I wondered after the first few minutes. Was it all some strange crossover between a movie and a videoclip? Was it all about style and 2-dimensional characters, like "Pulp Fiction" and "Reservoir Dogs" were? The beginning was so absurdly ridiculous that I briefly thought it was an imitation of the style of "Amelie", which used similar rapid changes and general fast pacing. Of course I was familiar with Baz Luhrmann's rendition of "Romeo and Juliet", which I loved, but couldn't be sure that it would turn out to be a similar story with music and more flash. Then, when the "convincing the Duke" scene flashed by, it began to look more like an old-fashioned slapstick cleverly adapted for modern viewers.
But then it began to look more and more as if the whole thing was serious, and the "hopeless love" angle dominated the rest of the movie.
All in all a rather odd mixture of styles. Why not start out on the same serious tone that the movie was to have for the most part?
What did *not* bother me was the high speed of most scenes, the dancing and the use of modern music. I liked them a lot, and was amazed by the spirit and feeling that Ewan McGregor puts in his singing. That lifeless old Elton John song "This is your song" sounded so sincere, heart warming and desperate at the same time when Obi Wan (oops!) was singing it. Brilliant! Ewan should really consider a singing career next to his acting exploits.
Still, in the end I find it hard to completely discard the "cartoony" feel which all of the characters had in the beginning. That leaves me with the lingering doubt that the whole thing was somewhat tongue-in-cheek anyway, which jars with the deeply tragic ending.
Another "jarring" element was the "Lady Marmalade" video featuring Pink, Mya, Christina & Li'l Kim. Although not a part of the movie (the tune sometimes played through it, though), it cannot help but create some sort of pre-impression. And that video, basically sung by artists pretending to be prostitutes, doesn't really have all that much to do with the movie. Sure, Satine is a "courtisane", but the whole attitude displayed in the movie centers around "Truth, Beauty, Freedom, Love". That video, sexy though it may be, was simply bad marketing for the film.
So, did I enjoy the movie?
Weeeell, yes. Kind of. Mostly the musical scores (liking those is simply a matter of taste, and I happen to like them) and the serious drama bit in the second half of the movie. I wouldn't want to see another movie in the style of MR, though. But MR itself I'll probably buy as a second hand DVD somewhere...
Overall: 7.5/10