Film Roar

Moulin Rouge! (2001)

Moulin Rouge! (2001) had two strikes going against it when I first saw it in a theater: 1. It is a musical and I hate musicals. 2. It stars Nicole Kidman and I (used to) hate Nicole Kidman. I did however like Moulin Rouge

As annoying as musicals may be, this is not your typical musical. I love 80s music which are the meat of this movie. The reinterpretation of Sting's Roxanne into a Tango for example tickled me in just the right way. Moulin Rouge! was true to form in the musical tradition by taking everything to the furthest extreme imaginable. The love scenes are bursting with ever-lasting all-eclipsing love like you have never seen before. The dark and depressing scenes delve into the furthest depths of human depression. The comedy is of the walking-on the walls and throwing your arms open at the end of a little dance type. What makes the musical format palatable is director Baz Luhrmann's macabre and twisted sense of humor. This sensibility is perfectly shown during the scene near the beginning of the movie where the bohemians celebrate their art by drinking absinth and hallucinate the Absinth Fairy (played by the enchanting Kylie Minogue) who is both beautiful and terrible. Over the top can be annoying, but in Luhrmann's hands it takes on a brilliance that is at times breath-taking.

Nicole Kidman looks like she was manufactured in some factory in Australia. When the movie S1m0ne (2002) came out about a digitally created movie star came out I immediately thought of Nicole. What is worse, beneath her plastic façade lie cold and calculating eyes. Whenever I see Nicole on screen I always get this feeling that if you were to run into her in person she would immediately size you up, figure out what you had to offer and then smoothly transform herself into the right person to take you for everything you've got. Now, I have never met the lady and for all I know she may be sweet as a kitten, but it is this impression of her that has made it hard for me to like movies of her in past. Nicole went a couple of notches in my book with To Die for (1995) and then right back down with Batman Forever (1995). All in all I think she did a great job with her character in Moulin Rouge! and like the rest of the cast, I believe she was well cast for her role. Ewan McGregor has never impressed me very much but held up just fine, John Leguizamo is a superb and unrecognized talent, Jim Broadbent is Harold Zidler and the rest of the cast are previously unknown to me but did a simply great job. I specially commend Richard Roxburgh as the snide duke and Jacek Koman as The Unconscious Argentinean.
I have seen Moulin Rouge some four or five times now and while I don't consider it a great film, I clearly enjoyed it every time. Why? Probably because I love innovative art. I love finding a concept no-one has done before, or at least one that has not been done to death. Even though Moulin Rouge borrows heavily from different genre it has an artistic sense and style that is truly unique and beautiful.

There are movies everyone loves, movies everyone hates and somewhere opinion could land anywhere in between. And then there are those few films with that strange quality to make people either really adore or deeply despise them. Moulin Rouge! falls squarely into this category. My experience is that when you see this movie you will either adore it and want to see it again, or despise it and feel like you were just robbed of two hours of hour life. Musical as it may be, and Nicole as it may star, I fall clearly in the first category. That being said I cannot recommend it since I know that half the people I recommend it to will think me a fool for enjoying it. I suggest you watch it yourself and decide whether Moulin Rouge! is a movie for you.