alveyblue

Moulin Rouge is one of the best cinematic experiences I have seen in years. Baz Luhrman takes his directorial style to new heights with this soaring story of love. At the heart of the movie is the simplest idea. All you need is love. Now...for the cynical moviegoer...this won't be enough to sustain your interest for two hours. But for the moviegoer who loves to believe in love, this movie delivers. Set admist the very un-romantic setting of a french brothel in 1900 is a story of true romance. AND IT'S A MUSICAL!!! Firt...a note on musicals...the theory behind musicals isn't to be cheesy as many moviegoers feel. It is said that characters in musicals sing and dance because they have to. They've expressed all of their emotions in speech and need a new platform to convey their feelings. So they sing...they sing for life...for love...and for the world. Granted...it gives the performer a chance to show off his abilities...to wow the audience with a number or two. But it is meant to express the charcters inner feelings.

That's what Moulin Rouge does. Going with the convention of using modern day lyrics in 1900 France...the musical numbers explode from the screen. Baz is a master of eye candy...but beneath his candy is feeling...passion and romance. Maybe the lead vocals were doctored. To quote history...Audrey Hepburn did not do all of her own singing in MY FAIR LADY and that is considered a masterpiece. Entire characters vocal tracks were dubbed in THE KING and I and even recently in EVERYBODY SAYS I LOVE YOU a nice musical as well) Drew Barrymore was obviously overdubbed. Those stars of movie musicals inthe past weren't the greatest singers either...but they emoted...just like Nicole Kidman and Ewan Mcgregor. This is coming from a person who is not an avid musical fan. I hate the cheesy MY FAIR LADY's and GIGI's and anything with Rodger or Hammerstein in the title. I like the musicals that speak to the audience in a real way. Like Cabaret...or Chorus Line. Moulin Rouge spoke to me. It created a world where love is possible...and not only possible...but wonderful. Where love can make you sing. Visually the movie is like nothing before. Baz exploits all the best of cinema. With his quick takes, and moving camera, and extreme close-ups you see all the little sublties in a not so subtle movie.

To pause on that...the movie isn't subtle. That isn't its intention...the musical from 1960 and before isn't subtle. Its not supposed to be. TO use current lyrics is brilliant by Baz. It allows the viewers to be connected and still experience a musical. Something which is foreign to modern movie-goers. Baz is trying to recreate the musical...which is needed. There is talk of RENT and CHICAGO being movies. I hope they are. So few people view the theatre anymore...and what better way to expose them to it but to bring it to the movies. Back to the movie...to truly experience the movie you have to let yourself go...accept the blatantness of the movie and allow all of its conventions to surround. It is more than a two hour music video...it is a simple story of love...where every emotion is so great...the characters must sing. The characters will carry you away. Ewan is moving as the lost poet with love in his heart...and Kidman is appropriately fetching and sensistive. They float this movie up into the moonlit scenes that much of it takes place in. I'm hoping the academy doesn't look over Jim Broadbent who steals everyscene he is in...like the Emcee of Cabaret Broadbent embodies the feeling of the Moulin Rouge. He is the abandoment of the club...but more than that he is its heart. John Leguizamo...who may become a Baz staple...is very scene stealing and very effective. In sum...the cast shines...the movie shines...and you will want to talk about it after it is over. See the movie which EXPLOITS (in a good way) all that cinema has to offer.

Or not to be? That is the question. This updated version of HAMLET offers much in the way of cinema. It is directed skillfully, full of eye candy to watch and substance galore. Many cuts were made to fit the vision and most of them work. This movie is moody, to say the least. So the cuts are wise. A four hour version of this movie would have been overweighed with mood. The acting, for the most part is sublime. Sam Shepard, Liev Schriber and Bill Murray score serious points. Diane Venora lends her talents to another complicated and much debated Shakespearean woman (see her Lady Capulet in Baz's ROMEO AND JULIET....she is very enjoyable.) Ethan Hawke plays his part with gusto and scores for the most part, with heavy emphasis on the "melancholy" part of the dane. Many transpositions work well. Setting in Hotel Elsinore and making everything big business really fits well. The commonly viewed theme of Ophelia as a pawn come into frutition well in the "get thee to a nunnery" scene by using Ophelia as planted "agent" tapped and wired.

Some falling point in this movie lie in several moments. Many of the cuts leave much needed dialouge missing. In the aforementioned "nunnery" scene Hamlet, in a full-text version, really shows his tempestuous side letting Ophelia have it with all four barrels. In this version, you are never sure, at first, if he is castigating or seducing her. Julia Stiles attempts Ophelia well but comes up lacking. Much of her dialogue had been cut and was left to give mournful glances and forced to "play" love torn. The "to be or not to be" speech works to a point, but never reaches quite the effect that it could. That speech should pull Hamlet in every direction. He is contemplating suicide and decides that his mind will not decide. So Hamlet reasons not to kill himself at that moment. That much needed motivation is missing in this movie. I believe Ethan Hawke's Hamlet could kill himself at any moment and the ground would not shake much. As a whole, the film works, beautifully filmed and visually stunning. But sometimes too much mood...weighs a film down.

DANCER IN THE DARK was one of those movies that I meant to see in the theatres and for some reason or another missed. I finally go to see it on video and it was worth every minute of it. In retrospect I'm glad I got to see it in private at home. It made me relish every minute of it more.

What at first seems to be the touching story of an immigrant doing the best by her son becomes even more. Through Lars Von Triers beautiful filmwork and scorching performances DANCER IN THE DARK became more than just a excellent movie. It became a beautiful film. Through the eyes of Selma, a tour-de-force by songstress Bjork, you see an everyday, commonplace world become a glorious musical. Selma hears beats and rhythems and then daydreams herself away to sprawling musical numbers, Selma's only escape from her hellish life. What makes this ultimately heartbreaking is the selflessness of Selma. Everything she does is out of lover of her "family"; her son, her best friend, her neighbors. She denies love to better protect her son. Ever more heartbreaking is the revelation that she blames herself for her son. The musical number, written by Bjork and Trier are fantastical. They are on the scale of Ziegfeld Follies but retain there own etheral quality.

By the end...I didn't just view Selma's life. I felt it. When Selma was in peril, I was in peril. At times the movie was uncomfortable. It is a film experience that not all viewers are suited for. But for the viewer who is looking for more than just a run-of-the-mill experience, they won't be let down. I refuse to give too much away. Not knowing where the movie is going is half of the experience. But as advice, go where the movie takes you. It is unlike anything you will see.