I decided to be a good son. Knowing that she wanted to see "Moulin Rouge," I asked my mom if she wanted to see it with me. She said yes, and off we went to see one of the most unusual, surreal, modern musicals ever filmed.
I don't like movie musicals. A play is different. The stage seems appropriate for musicals. But with movies... I dunno, musicals seem to look stupid on a movie screen. I just sit there wondering to myself, "why are those two street gangs singing and dancing when they're about to get into a fight?" It seems outta place, ya know? Of course, there ARE rare exceptions, like "Grease" and "My Fair Lady," but for the most part, I can't get into musicals. However, "Moulin Rouge" is different. VERY different. To give you an idea, this movie takes place in, I believe, 1899, but at one point, everyone breaks into a medley of modern songs, a medley that includes Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit." Yeah, it's weird, but kinda cool.
"Moulin Rouge" stars Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor, and they do their own singing and dancing. Nicole Kidman is astonishing in this movie. I remember when I didn't think much of her as an actress, but then I saw "Eyes Wide Shut," and I changed my tune about her completely. I thought that her performance in that movie was worthy of an Oscar, and I feel the same way about her performance in this movie. As for her singing, she has a very pretty voice. It's not very powerful, I mean, she's not gonna stand there belting it out like Christina Aguilera, but she does have a nice singing voice. As for Ewan McGregor, who's gonna be cool till the day he dies because he's "Obi-Wan Kenobi," he's a great actor, and he's great in this movie. I must admit, though, it's unusual to see him sing. His voice is okay, but he just looks weird when he sings. John Leguizamo (he starred in the Spike Lee directed "Summer of Sam") is also in the movie. Despite his tremendous talent, he annoys me in every movie he's in. I'm not sure why, but whatever it is, he didn't bring it with him in this movie. He's very good, and very funny. Though she's not well known in America, Kylie Minogue (a singer and actress popular in Australia) has a tiny role, literally and figuratively. She plays a fairy, and though she's in the movie for about a minute, she's adorable.
This movie was directed by Baz Luhrmann, his third film, and this isn't the first time he mixed the old with the new. The movie he did before this one was "Romeo + Juliet" (the one with Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes, as well as John Leguizamo, who was also in this movie), which kept Shakespeare's old English dialogue, but set the movie in modern times. I thought that his take on "Romeo + Juliet" was very clever, but I wasn't a huge fan of the movie. Maybe I'm too much of a purist, but I love Shakespeare's story, and to me, nothing beats the very faithful movie version done by Franco Zeffirelli in 1968. Also, the crazy camerawork didn't seem appropriate for "Romeo + Juliet." With "Moulin Rouge," it makes much more sense. Baz Luhrmann is an amazing visual stylist, and this movie puts it all on display beautifully. I've never seen his first film, "Strictly Ballroom," but I really want to. As for the script, it was written by Baz Luhrmann & Craig Pearce (they also wrote "Romeo + Juliet" and "Strictly Ballroom" together).
Hmmmmm.... I should probably mention something about the script.
I don't wanna give anything away, but while watching "Moulin Rouge," I was reminded of "Shakespeare in Love." There were some slight similarities between the two films, but nothing major. Then when the movie ended, my mom looked at me and said that this movie was a complete rip-off of "The Lady of the Camelias" by Alexander Dumas, Jr. (son of Alexander Dumas who wrote "The Three Musketeers," "The Man in the Iron Mask," and "The Count of Monte Cristo"). I never heard of the book, but she said that it was turned into a movie quite a few times. The most popular was the 1937 version (titled "Camille") starring Greta Garbo and Robert Taylor and directed by "My Fair Lady" director, George Cukor. When she told me what the story was, and when I went to The Internet Movie Database to do some research on "Camille," I saw that she was right. I won't call "Moulin Rouge" a complete rip-off, but it's scary how alike the two stories are. Will there be news of a lawsuit soon? It wouldn't surprise me.
By the way, did you know that Baz Luhrmann released an album recently? It was titled "Something for Everybody," and he was the executive producer. It's mostly a compilation of songs from his movies, but instead of "Various Artists," it says "Baz Luhrmann." It features a song that got major radio airplay called "Everybody's Free (To Wear Sunscreen)." It was a very cool spoken word song. The lyrics are actually from a column by Chicago Tribune columnist Mary Schmich, and the words are spoken by Lee Perry. If you'd like to read the exact column from which the lyrics were borrowed (by permission), just check out the "Sunscreen Column" or go on over to the Mary Schmich Home Page to read her latest offering. Oh, wanna know a strange coincidence? Mary Schmich's "Sunscreen" column was published on June 1, 1997. Baz Luhrmann's "Moulin Rouge" was released nationally exactly four years later on June 1, 2001. Weird, huh?
I like "Moulin Rouge" a lot. It has amazing performances by Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor, awesome music, and a fantastic visual style that I've never seen before. Yeah, it has it's slow parts, and the film's originality may be questionable, but this is a movie that shouldn't be missed.
Scale of 1-10: 9