It's Greatness Crept Up On Me (9/10)

Rating: 8/10 (21 February 2002)

(I saw this on DVD, YMMV)
I haven't seen Luhrmann's other big film, Romeo+Juliet, nor did I know anything about the film when I rented it. All I had heard is that it was a musical, a bit odd, and nominated for some Oscars.
Christian is a writer who gets drafted to write a play called Spectacular, Spectacular! when Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (who is an actor, not a painter in this film) crashes through the ceiling with another actor practicing in the upstairs flat. Once the idea for the play is begun, the group of actors visit the Moulin Rouge to sell the play to the owner, Harold Zidler. There they meet Satine, a young dancer and prostitute that dreams of becoming a "real" actress someday. Here chance appears when the Duke of Monroth offers to finance Spectacular, Spectacular in return for Satine's services.
The hook here is this movie is a musical. Not a typical musical, the songs here take lines and melodies from many different songs to create new ideas. The two pieces that stand out were the opening intro of the Moulin Rouge with the intro of Satine and the actors as they were waiting for Satine to save the play by acting her part for the Duke.
The first had the women of the Moulin Rouge singing various lines from overtly sexual songs, with the men singing "here we are now, entertain us" from Nirvana. Ripped clean from it's cynical, ironic underpinnings, the line creates something totally new - call it the John's Anthem.
The second had Christian singing a song of love and jealousy while the actors danced the life of a prostitute to "Roxanne" sung in a low growl.
As I watched, I was increasingly impressed with the technique and with the ability of Kidman and McGregor to not get lost in all the music, color, and quick cuts. It was only at the end that I could look back and realize I had seen a great movie.