Moulin Rouge!

I know that I'm sorta late, but I figure even if I don't get posted in Andrew's (at Encore Entertainment) blogathon, at least I wrote about my favorite musical, which is...

Moulin Rouge!

I'd like to focus on two of the most confusing snubs of the decade...

Ewan for Best Actor, and Baz Luhrmann for Best Director. A film as big as Moulin Rouge! depends on two things: the acting, and the skill of a director. (All I can say is thank god Nicole got her nomination!)

In a film filled with ridiculously lavish and crazy, over-the-top production numbers, how are you supposed to keep the film's central message (it's a love story!) clear? If you're Baz Luhrmann, you make sure you get Ewan McGregor. Take the scene below...




Even as Ewan and Nicole spin high up in the clouds, they make sure that the message doesn't get lost in the crazy, over-produced (in a good way) musical number. It also helps that Ewan's voice has that sensual, masculine touch of rogue-ness and the face of a Shakespearean paramour. He's the spark that ignites Nicole's flame (there's a metaphor of worth in there somewhere... look harder!).

Baz, in the tradition of Cecil B. DeMille, keeps everything big. But what Baz also does is keep the realism true in spite of the theatricality. Take a look at this...





Notice the intimacy of a huge scene. Nicole's "I love you, 'til the end of time," is more touching than it would have been between just the two of them in a room. By staging the song "Come What May" in the Duke's production, Baz makes the love of these two seem as huge as the production itself. I'm sure we can all realize that, despite its grandeur, it's one of the most touching and intimate portrayals of love ever captured on screen. Baz knows how to make it big and small, all at the same time.

I hope that made sense. It's hard to explain the greatness of Moulin Rouge! without contradicting oneself a thousand times over.

So there you have it, my favorite (and the best) musical.

The Delights of Un-Camp

It's amazing how something so susceptible to camp doesn't quite go there. Moulin Rouge! really is in a league of its own.


It's easy to go into camp territory:

1) get some far-fetched story (the life of a dying courtesan in 1800s France who is dying falls in love with a penniless Bohemian writer, and it takes place in the Moulin Rouge, perhaps?)
2) mix in crazy songs (combining Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend with Material Girl anyone?)
3) have actors slavishly devote themselves to their roles
4) insane colors and sets galore (an elephant that doubles as a love nest, maybe?)


But through all of this, Baz never goes there. There is hard to describe, but it's the point of no-return. Silliness over quality, absurdity over poignancy.


What this is all leading up to is... How the hell was Baz not nominated for an Oscar for directing this film?