instruction:
In this task, you must classify if a given review is positive/negative, indicating your answer as P or N.
question:
after the press screening of " moulin rouge , " i stood in the lobby of the theater listening to the reactions of my friends and colleagues .
everyone seemed a bit numb , understandable after sitting through a barrage of often - incongruous sounds and images .
a pal of mine simply said that he loved the film and could hardly wait to take his wife to see it .
another enthusiast immediately began to analyze the production , while a woman who flat - out hated the movie gave him the skunk eye .
when one fellow quietly stated " i 've never really been a fan of musicals , " the statement surprised me because ,
even though the story is told almost completely through song , i did n't think of it as a musical .
there is so much going on in " moulin rouge " that " musical " seems too small a term to cover it .
"
moulin rouge " is the kind of creation that sends critics scurrying off to the big tub o ' adjectives in search of proper words to describe the experience .
australian director baz luhrmann , the man behind " strictly ballroom " and " romeo + juliet , " fills the heads of viewers with unique camerawork , opulent imagery and songs ranging from " the sound of music " to " smells like teen spirit .
" sumptuous and beautiful , vulgar and overdone , " moulin rogue " travels through the looking glass while an ethereal stereo loaded with 50 years worth of catchy tunes
operates on the " random " setting .
oh , and it has a story as well .
"
it was 1899 , the summer of love . . .
"
christian ( ewan mcgregor ) is a penniless young writer newly arrived in paris , " to write about truth , beauty , freedom and love , " where he encounters a group of bohemians , led by henri de toulouse - lautrec ( john leguizamo ) .
christian meets satine ( nicole kidman ) , a courtesan from the legendary moulin rogue , and his world transforms from black and white to technicolor .
at once fragile and vivacious , the dazzling red - haired woman sweeps him off his feet without even trying .
christian instantly falls in love with her and satine finds herself smitten with him as well , which is quite a hindrance for someone in her profession .
working with the bohemians and moulin rogue impresario harold zidler ( jim broadbent ) , christian writes an opus modestly named " spectacular spectacular .
" zidler quickly finds a backer , the wealthy duke of monroth ( richard roxburgh ) , but there 's a catch ?
the duke also wants the hand of the fair satine .
as if all that is n't enough , satine has a cough , and while a cough in the real world probably indicates a cold , it rarely turns out to be anything that simple in movie land .
like a teeter - totter , " moulin rogue " moves up and down between the ridiculous and the sublime .
one of the loveliest moments comes as christine and satine commune outdoors at night , becoming part of a defiantly unrealistic parisian cityscape straight from a book of fairy tales .
together they dance , while serenaded by the man in the moon ( alessandro safina provides the vocals ) , apparently transported from the classic georges
m ? li ?
s
silent film to guard the nocturnal sky .
other scenes merely traffic in everything - and - the - kitchen - sink overload .
the cavorting of toulouse - lautrec and his comrades gets strained at times and some of their overt comedy , accompanied by cartoon sound effects , is overly reminiscent of the frenzied farce that sitcoms like " bewitched " beat into the ground .
of course , sensory overload was exactly what baz luhrmann had in mind .
"
we never heard from baz to turn it down , " one of the actors told the los angeles times .
"
it was always , ' more !
more ! '
" the director even sent a note to his cast reading , " i dare you to make me say you 've gone too far .
"
the musical numbers reflect his attitude .
one knockout piece , the " elephant love medley , " incorporates the beatles ' " all you need is love , " u2 's " in the name of love , " dolly parton 's " i will always love you " and elton john and bernie taupin 's " your song .
" need more ?
how about " diamonds are a girl 's best friend " spiced with portions of " material girl ? "
luhrmann 's cast offers a wide variety of approaches that , together , add up to something messy , but often wonderful .
ewan mcgregor is extremely likable as christian , emphasizing the sincerity of the love - struck poet .
mcgregor 's singing voice is robust and adds vigor at just the right moments .
once labeled the " ice queen , " nicole kidman melts that characterization with a sizzling , yet tender , performance .
she handles the songs adroitly , although her voice sounds a bit thin in the upper range .
veteran character actor jim broadbent is suitably larger than life as ringmaster zidler ?
wait until you see him perform " like a virgin .
" as the buffoonish duke , richard roxburgh proves to be the film 's weakest link , although i 'm sure he was simply following instructions .
i suspect " moulin rogue " will be one of those love - it - or - hate - it films .
while i did n't completely love it ,
i most certainly liked it a lot .
over the course of a year , i see well over 300 movies , and most of them look like xeroxes of each other .
" moulin rogue " is an original , and an original , even a flawed one , is a thing to be cherished .
answer:
P


question:
" take a number , fill out a form , and wait your turn .
"
starring kati outinen , kari v ? ?
n ?
nen , sakari kuosmanen , elina salo ; written & directed by aki kaurism ?
ki
; cinematography by timo salminen it might be possible to call drifting clouds a satire or a black comedy , but that would imply a sense of anger , of vitriol , of energy ; drifting clouds is what you get when the rage and vitality are gone .
it is the sad , slow story of lauri and ilona , a married couple caught between the wheels of capitalism as it grinds inexorably onward .
he loses his job as a tram driver , because everyone drives cars nowadays .
within a couple of months , she loses her position as a head waiter , when her restaurant is bought out by a chain and the entire staff replaced .
a conversation early in the film reveals a lot about their situation .
lauri has surprised ilona by buying her a tv , which she greets with little enthusiasm .
she notes that they have n't finished paying for the bookshelves or the couch yet .
he says that in four years the payments will be done and then they can buy some books for the shelves .
it would pass as deadpan humour if it was n't spoken with such resigned weariness .
this sets the tone for the rest of the movie .
there is humour and idiosyncracy at the periphery , but at the centre there is frustration and futility , and sorrow for the ways in which the logic of profit reduces people , until their worth is equated solely with their earning capacity .
there is an element of political commentary in this critique of the mechanisms of capitalism and the stultifying social environment it creates , but in drifting clouds the political is subsumed by the personal : the movie is about two people and what happens to them , and nothing else matters .
lauri and ilona live lives starved for friendship , respect , culture , passion .
they go to the movies , and walk out past old posters for l'atalante and l'argent , but the movie they have just seen is a pointless , violent , unfunny comedy .
their house and workplaces are uniformly unpleasant , painted and upholstered in lifeless colours ( ugly greens , dull reds , insipid blues ) , full of inelegantly functional objects and appliances .
the art design is impeccable in its tawdriness , and director aki kaurism ?
ki often matches the colour of characters ' clothes with the background colour and/or lighting , so that it seems as if they are almost physically fading into the environment .
there is no suggestion of sexuality in the relationship ; ilona and lauri sleep in separate beds and their gestures of affection lack the heat of desire ; their lives are now bound by something more complex and desperate than love .
their downward , downsized , downtrodden lives have a momentum that is almost comic , as one setback succeeds another , bottoming out when lauri stakes all their remaining money on the spin of a roulette wheel .
it must have been tempting to play the story for more laughs , more farce , more deadpan wit , but the film 's great strength
is the sober , empathic manner in which it observes lauri and ilona 's misfortunes .
irony would be an injustice .
situations and settings are broad and exaggerated -- this is not realism -- but they are not distorted .
the emotions are authentic .
if it is difficult to laugh at anything that happens , despite the droll performances , the laconic humour , that 's because kaurism ?
ki brings such compassion and understanding to the manifold indignities that are suffered .
he shows us how humiliating it must be for a woman of thirty - eight , who has worked long and hard to win a respectable position , to be forced to accept a job as a dishwasher in a two - bit restaurant ; how humiliating it must be for a man nearing 50 to confront his wife 's former employer , demanding the rest of her wages , only to have the crap beaten out of him , unable to land a single punch , when the employer and his cronies refuse to give him the money .
all this is observed keenly , with great economy : every cut , every line of dialogue , is judicious .
if most films are novelistic in their telling , this one brings the focus and concentration of a short story to bear .
but what is gained in nuance and acumen is rather undermined by the sense that the material barely accommodates the 96-minute running length .
i have seen many movies far less profound , less humane , less necessary than drifting clouds , but they filled me with an urge to watch them again , and this one did not .
it does not need to be seen twice : its every detail and implication can be absorbed in one viewing .
it is not a movie that will be seen by a large audience , because it can not be pitched to one .
there is no selling point .
it is all understatement , restraint , melancholy .
the characters are unremarkable , their best years behind them , their dreams dissipated ; it takes all the effort they can muster just to pay the bills .
this does not make them less fascinating , merely less marketable , which is a shame , because this is a movie which should be seen , precisely because it pays attention to people and emotions that most movies prefer to ignore .
it engages us and touches us and resolves -- surprisingly , and movingly -- into something resembling a happy ending .
the only thing greater than the ill - luck that governs the characters ' lives is their refusal to give in to despair .
their persistence is rewarded with what might be called a " feel - good " ending elsewhere , but not here , because this ending differs in kind from most such endings : this one has truly been earned .
answer:
P


question:
hollywood has really done the whole dracula thing to death ( no pun intended - honest ) .
it 's a shame , too , because the good count was probably the most frightening out the old b - movie monsters .
i mean , come on .
are people really going to get that scared over a big green guy named frankenstein that moves at a speed of five miles per hour ?
hell no .
and not only was the idea of a vampire frightening as hell , but it also carried with it a kind of sensual feeling as well , not commonly associated with horror films .
and not only has the idea been done too many times , but with the possible exception of from dusk ' till dawn , has not been done very well lately , either .
this is precisely why
it was so much fun for me watching the original nosferatu .
i got to go back to the times when making movies ( even horror movies ) was considered an art form , and not just done to make cash like nowadays .
and that is exactly what this film is ; art .
i 've been a horror fan since i was eight years old , and to this day
i have not seen any horror film cover the intellectual ground that this film covers
.
let me backtrack a minute .
when i say " intellectual ground " , i do n't mean that nosferatu tackles philosophical questions or anything like that , i just mean that in order for the film to work the way it was intended to , a little bit of thinking is involved .
with most modern slasher movies like friday the 13th and what - not , you can just simply sit back in your chair and be frightened by the gore that is shown .
those movies could have been made by a fifth grader with a good makeup kit ; movies like this require the viewer to actually pay attention and ponder what is happening on the screen .
you see , this movie has barely any violence in it and even less blood or gore .
this is a thinking man 's slasher flick .
the " nosferatu " of the title is orlock ( max shreck ) , a strange , hermit - like count that , as the film opens , is looking for a new home to buy .
he employs the help of hutter ( gustav von wangenhein ) , a real estate salesman ( or something to that effect ) who has a nice home and even a fiancee named ellen ( greta schroeder ) . upon orders from his boss , hutter treks to the transylvanian mountains to visit orlock 's castle and speak to him about his new home ( which just happens to be right next door to hutter 's ) .
the next morning , he wakes up to find teeth marks on his neck . . .
not really a good sign .
he then discovers through some reading that the count is a " nosferatu " , or vampire , one of the undead that feeds off the blood of living humans .
but by the time he pieces this together , he is too late ; orlock has already embarked to hutter 's hometown via boat .
will hutter reach his destination in time to save his fiancee from the deadly clutches of count orlock ?
the character of orlock is , of course , dracula .
the only only reason his name was changed was because this was an unauthorized account of bram strocker 's novel .
just thought that was an interesting little side note .
. .
probably the only way you will get to see
this fine film is by purchasing a copy of arrow entertainment 's digitally restored cut , now available in stores .
however , this version is quite different than maunau 's original masterpiece .
the movie is now sporting a new soundtrack by band type o - negative and color tinting , much like the 1984 version of lang 's metropolis .
now , i really appreciate what arrow entertainment is trying to do here , bringing a classic like this to the attention of a wider audience that might have otherwise just skipped this one .
but alas
, i like watching movies the way they were originally intended to be seen .
but that 's just my bag
; you may like the newer , more " modern " version better .
either way , i suggest investing your money in a copy .
if you like what they have done with it , pop it in the vcr and enjoy .
if you 're like me , just do what i 'll do during future viewings ; turn the color all the way down on your television , hit mute , turn on some bach or mozart or whatever , dim the lights and prepare to view what is truly one of the greatest films ever made .
answer:

P