The bipolar opposite of minimalism!

Rating: Null/10 (13 June 2001)

I'm completely torn with this movie, and still haven't fully made up my mind; arguably the exact reason why I shouldn't be writing a review, but anyway, here is what's got me divided, the good vs the bad.
THE GOOD: The music was fabulously racy and suited the film's design perfectly; the eclectic range of the music was also enjoyable, ranging from the spine-tingly mellow and disturbing Nature Boy at the film's beginning, to the fast paced, thumping, jazz-cum-dance romp of songs like Sparkling Diamonds and Lady Marmalade. Ewan McGregor's performance was perfectly subtle; his display of innocence rotting from the inside was flawless, and was pleasantly surprised by his voice. The film's visuals hardly need mention, they're infamous enough as it is, but the pure spectacularity of them is something beyond words. The camera flashes, glitter, wild, eccentric sets and camera angles all blended together flawlessly to create a hulking, teetering monster of sound, colour, and movement. Oddly enough, the performance I felt that truly stole the show was Jim Broadbent as Zidler. Though not huge role, Jim Broadbent's realisation of character and portrayal of the two seperate sides to his character, extravagent, decieptful whorehouse showman to father-figure intelligent sympathiser, is really quite remarkable.
THE BAD: Nicole Kidman wasn't entirely bad, this is far too general a thing to say, but if balancing between good or bad she would lead towards the latter, unfortunately. Her performance of Satine was shallow and with no real emotional core, and the dryness of her voice tended to irritate me in places. The main problem with Moulin Rouge is the storyline, or the lack thereof. It is completely and utterly predictable, and I couldn't help but think that to put so much effort into a film such as this, the storyline could have been much stronger, or at least have had some kind of twist to it. The movie is really quite over-hyped, and it could have been just that I came in with great expectations, but I found that Baz really did try far too hard with this production; there is absolutely no subtlety to be found outside Ewan McGregor's performance, and I think that even in a film such as this that prides itself on being completely extravagant and over the top, subtlety is still necessary. It tries to be in-your-face, but doesn't quite get there.