Moulin Rouge

Scott Hardie | August 2, 2001
Go see this movie! Go see it before it leaves theaters and you have to see it on a small screen!

Kelly and I saw this movie last night. We sat in the center of the theater, looking right up at the big screen, and were completely blown away. This is not a movie to see on a glass screen in your living room.

What an amazing film. I have always considered Baz Luhrmann to be a good director who seemed restrained, but here, the leash is completely off. Who gave him eight hundred billion dollars to make this movie? Somehow they've figured out how to get the cameras on crack, because the movie that we see is an amazing sensory experience, with some of the most lavish sets and costumes I've seen in a long time. Outstanding songs (few of them original), outstanding sets, outstanding movie. My only complaint is that the slow middle section drags a little too long, after a brilliant first act and a sparkling finalé.

This movie had damn well better be nominated for Oscars for costumes, makeup, visual effects, original song(s), original score, director, and above all, art direction. Nominations for actor, actress, and editing would be appropriate too. Fucking hell, this movie rocked! Go see it! Get there early and stay until the end of the credits.

Minor footnote on the closing credits: The music that plays over them, imo, is beautiful. It's classical music combined with a techno beat, which I usually abhor. You know why? The classical music is usually used to enhance the techno beat, but in Moulin Rouge, it's the other way around. How appropriate for this movie.