Oh la la. Are
you sorry now Tom?
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Amazing, marvellous,
visually stunning, unbeatable.
The movie of
the year has arrived.
Nigel
Bell
Who would have thought the man who drove us all mad with that number
one single about the benefits of wearing sunscreen could produce
such a gem.
Mind you, Baz
Luhrmann has quite a track record. Strictly Ballroom and
William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet showed the Aussie had
an eye for outstanding set pieces.
Moulin Rouge
is a veritable roller coaster of a visual ride. Your eyes are in
for a treat and you'll be hard pressed to tear them from the screen,
even for a film that's more than two hours in length.
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| Dear Tom,
you don't know what you're missing |
The storyline
is simple enough. Moulin Rouge is a love story, a love doomed
to end in tragedy.
Young writer
Christian (McGregor) arrives in Paris and is soon adopted by a group
of Bohemian actors.
This leads to
a meeting with Satine (Kidman), a courtesan based at the Moulin
Rouge but desperate to become a serious actress.
Despite their
mutual love, Satine is under pressure to enter into a relationship
with the Duke of Worcester (Roxburgh). In return, the duke will
finance the conversion of the Moulin Rouge into a theatre.
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| It's Kylie
- very 1900 |
The story is
played out in a mix of farce and tension but it all takes second
stage to the visuals and music.
The film is
being hailed as a return to greatness for the musical. That's probably
taking things too far but the songs are sensational.
Like A Knight's
Tale, Moulin Rouge puts modern tunes into a past setting.
But unlike the former, Luhrmann gets his actors to put a new twist
on classics like Elton John's Your Song, Roxanne by the Police and
Nirvana's Smells Like Teen Spirit.
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| Move over
Madonna, Nicole's in town |
Right from the
start you're jolted into this new take on the musical when McGregor
suddenly starts belting out The Hills Are Alive With The Sound Of
Music some 40 odd years before Rogers and Hammerstein actually wrote
the song.
It works a treat,
helped greatly by the fact that Kidman and co have decent voices.
The soundtrack is a winner but criminally omits an OTT interpretation
of Madonna's Like A Virgin by the marvellous Jim Broadbent.
In many ways
Moulin Rouge reminds me of how Absolute Beginners
might have looked given a decent budget. It's shot in an exotic
pop video style with rapid editing which makes you dizzy. This is
Dennis Potter meets Bollywood. There's even an appearance by Kylie
Minogue as the Green Fairy.
Make no mistake,
Moulin Rouge will divide film fans. It's a movie you'll either
love or hate. If you don't catch the vibe after the first ten minutes
you might as well go home, if you do, then you'll be richly rewarded.
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