Moulin Rouge Review- By Michael J. Carlisle

Title: Moulin Rouge
Year: 2001
Director: Baz Luhrmann
Country: US
Language: English

Born Sept 17, 1972 Baz Luhrmann is an Australian film director, screenwriter and director who, in 2013, continued to make waves when he adapted F.Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby to the big screen. Fairly critically and commercially successful, I first heard of him when I saw his adaptation of Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet in elementary school. Even back then I thought it was a terrible bastardization of the source material, and I could barely understand the source material. Perhaps his idea of a musical would impress me. Moulin Rouge looked promising, but would it deliver? Nope.

Ewan McGregor stars as a poet who falls for a beautiful courtesan (Nicole Kidman) whom a jealous duke (Richard Broxburgh) covets. It all takes place in Paris; specifically the Moulin Rouge.

Bob Fosse (1927-1987) was an innovative editor when it came to his film musicals. He made razor-sharp edits at the change of a dancer’s direction, or as an extension of his combination moves.It was rhythmic and methodical, each cut had an important purpose to either the story or the character development. Luhrmann edits like a schizophrenic without medication. He cuts far too frequently, without any intelligent reason. Often it's disorienting and makes the film fairly hard to follow. I get that he wants the picture to have an aura of eccentrism, but he must sacrifice a coherent story for it.

Far from being a technical masterpiece, Moulin Rouge also fails at giving its audience the bare minimum of what a musical should have; THE MUSIC!!! The film is set in the late 19th Century, but it samples tracks from contemporary culture ("Roxanne", "Like A Virgin") which would be permissible had they not been sung so poorly and placed so in such a bizarre position during the run-time. The film desperately grasps at straws; borrowing from any period or style that the typical MTV viewer will recognize, but aside from the beautiful set design there is nothing worth seeing.

Moulin Rouge is the no-name brand of the musical genre. If you set your expectations really low you may enjoy it, but I expect far more. It's almost machine-like in the way it exhumes typical movie cliches and shoves Hollywood propaganda down our throats. I feel bad for Jim Broadbent, a great British actor, having this in his resume. Piss on it! 1/5