Moulin Rouge (2001) review

(8/10)

Everybody has been trying to get me to see this, and now I now why. It's creative, odd, unique, and overall spectacular.

PLOT:In the old days of the 1890s, young Christian (Ewan McGregor) leaves his father and his teachings to move to France and become a writer. While there, he meets and bunks with a man with a passion for the theatre, Toulouse (John Leguizamo). Toulouse shows him around to all the sights, from drinking abstinthe to a world of sex only found at the local club, the Moulin Rouge. This club is founded by an eccentric businessman named Harold Zilder (Jim Broadbent), who puts his prize girl, Satine (Nicole Kidman), up to sleep with the Duke of Worcester (Richard Roxburgh) so he can get an investment in some way. However, in a twist of events, our young writer is accidentally taken as the Duke and is taken to her room later that night. Later that night when she finds out it was a mistake, Satine has to cover up their newly-formed love story (he pours his heart out about his poetry and sings to her) by getting everybody involved in the play Christian's writing. Things start to go downhill when the Duke is signed over the play rights, as well as Christian and Satine trying to keep thier love story secret. Also, something seems to be up with Satine's health that may not be good at all. It's a great plot idea executed uniquely.



ACTING:The acting in here was brilliant! McGregor and Kidman stole the show as Christian and Satine. I could feel thier emotional turns and sadness with real tears. I believe this is one love story that will live for a while. The other shiners would be Jim Broadbent as Zilder, John Leguizamo as Toulouse, Jacek Koman as the Unconscious Argentinian, and the cameo of Kylie Minogue as the Green Fairy.

SCORE:The soundtrack is one of the best and most memorable parts about this movie. The soundtrack is mainly made up of several love songs and period-accurate adaptations of more modern songs. Some of the songs covered include songs by the Beatles, KISS, Nirvana, The Police, Madonna, and many others. Overall I'd say the soundtrack kicked some tail.



OTHER CONTENT:This was a very different movie for me. Everything about it had a certain kind of style that reminded me much of how a stage play would be executed. It was literally like I was inside a huge trip. One thing I really liked about this movie was the editing. Like Aronofsky in Requiem, this director (Baz Luhrmann) has a certain style of editing that makes this movie very unique and way different from everything else. However, this type of editing and direction also posed a problem; the plot execution suffered from being a bit uneven. I know it's a love story, but the fact that it can be goofy one moment and sad the next just doesn't agree with me, as that of the Lovely Bones. I will say though that I did cry at the end, and this movie also reminded me a lot of other musicals (Rocky Horror) along the way.

OVERALL,a great musical romance with a great plot, brilliant acting, butt-kicking score, a different style as that of a play, a trippy effect, a unique type of editing and direction, a sad ending, and reminiscence of other musicals, but the unique style of direction made it seem a little bit too uneven for me to fully enjoy.