Moulin Rouge spectacular musical stars nicole kidman ewan mcgregor

MOULIN ROUGE!

Stars:
Nicole Kidman, Ewan McGregor, John Leguizamo, Jim Broadbent, Richard Roxburgh
Director:
Baz Luhrmann
Rated: PG-13

Score: 9/10

Main Attraction

Home

Box Office

The Rest of It

The greatest thing you'll ever learn
is just to love
and be loved in return

Spectacular Spectacular!

Moulin Rouge is a kalaidescope of music, color, costumes and excitement. It's a simple love story about a poor writer named Christian (McGregor) who falls for a courtesean (Kidman). It's the kind of love that can never be, because she desires fame and fortune and wants nothing to hold her back from being famous and having glamor. Each character in the film is the star of their own life, an exaggerated interpretation of perhaps how they perceive themselves to be. And as a musical, it succeeds brilliantly. It's a simple recipe. Take great songs from pop culture, ad a twist and serve. And if life were that easy and it didn't sound cheesy, we'd speak all our thoughts as simple as the lyrics of a song can do.

It isn't just within the songs, but also the dialogue where we pick up familiar lines of famous lyrics..showing just how basic music is and instrumental in how we feel and relate it into our lives. The Moulin Rouge is where Christian finds his heart, and loses it. He joins up with some free-spirited writers to help them write up the words for a musical that will be playing at the Moulin Rouge. Satine is a woman that he desires to love and is out of his grasp. She is a courtesean and a major attraction at the Rouge, she's used to using men to get what she wants. And what she wants is a life of glamour, and not to have to sell herself for it. An evil (make that..eeevyil) Duke has staked a claim at the Moulin Rouge and part of the contract was signing away Satine to him. She is cast in Christians musical as the star, they had a brief chance encounter earlier when she mistook him for the Duke and tried to, quite hillariously, seduce him in her quarters. During the process of working together they fall madly for eachother. She knows it will be a short lived affair and is torn between love and her dreams, and of course her obligation to that snivelling duke.

There is definate chemistry between the two, and each of the actors donated their own voices to the soundtrack. This movie takes the concept of all previous musicals and throws it in the trash. They had their day, and many people in todays world cannot relate to people in real situations suddenly standing on a table and breaking out into song. MGM originally created lavish musicals back during the depression when people needed a form of escapism from their lives. But now we need a different kind of escapism, something more fantasy or with depth (Like "Dancer in the Dark").

But this story is presented as very fairytale fantasy, and in this world anything seems possible. Glitz, glamour, romance, heartache, tragedy. The film has had a huge following making it a stunning success and really couldn't have been made without the eye and direction of Baz Luhrman who was snubbed at that years Oscars. Take the time to rent this film. It is not one that will easily put you to sleep, it's alive and vibrant. A worthy purchase.