Thank you for visiting this unofficial journey behind the Red Velvet Curtain and into the heart of "The Moulin Rouge", my pick for Best Picture of the year in a year when humanity needs a movie like "Moulin Rouge". This is one of my "overnight pages", although it's taken the better part of the Holiday weekend to construct, not to mention writing the lengthy essay I hope you read, and I'm presenting it almost complete, with a composite image page, discussion board, and links to the official site and some selected fan sites. The heart of the site, of course, is the treatise below, which is continued on the essay page. I set out to tell everybody just how wonderful and enlightening the movie is, and I got rather carried away, but I hope it might inspire people to go see the movie. Thanks for listening.
Michael F. Nyiri
poet, philosopher, fool, and sometime movie critic

Sunday Dec. 23 and Monday Dec. 24, 2001
started 6:40am pst on the 23 and finished 11:05pm pst Christmas Eve.

The Buzz Starts Here
The Best film of 2001
by Michael F. Nyiri

"My top five films of 2001"

As this particularly disturbing and eerie year draws to a close, popular entertainment hasn't been on anyone's mind much, in light of current events. It is the beginning of "Awards season" however, and I want to make my predictions for the Academy Awards, and/or list my five favorite films of 2001, and I want to specifically make a case for the singular film which not only deserves the Academy Award this year for Best Picture, a film I've "touted" since I first saw it, but a film which I'm positively certain is possibly the most important first work of the new Millennium.

I have always said I merely want to be entertained when going to the movies, and I enjoy most of what I choose to see because I am entertained. If, in the course of being entertained, I am enlightened and enriched, or if I am allowed to glimpse hidden layers within the human experience because of the artistic merits of one film or another; to taste those added pleasures is rich icing on the cake of the moviegoing experience. The best films not only entertain, but enrich. The director and his creative team formulate a work of art which far surpasses the brouhaha, hype and circumstance which surrounds it's opening weekend. Far too few films fall in this category. One stands out in multicolored all singing all talking glory in 2001.

This film is a heartfelt valentine to freedom, truth, beauty, art, and love. It is a cultural blender full of styles, tastes, and vibrancy. It's antic, it's brassy. It's got beautiful people, heroes, and villians. It's technologically perfect, and utilizes state of the art special effects. It's the best looking movie of the past ten years, including "Titanic", which it surpasses. Although upon first viewing it seems like a trifle, looks can be deceiving, and this "trifle" is only on the surface. It has more beneath the surface. It has multifaceted layers and deep insight into the human condition. These layers show themselves more clearly upon repeated viewings.

It's a Hollywood Movie Musical, and in this year especially, after the tragic events which permeate the collective consciousness of humankind, I think it is fitting that a musical is the best picture of the year.

My choice for Best Picture of 2001, and mark my words, because I'm usually not wrong in these matters.....is:

"Moulin Rouge" (Fox) produced, directed, and along with Craig Pearce, co-written by Baz Luhrmann, one of today's most artistic directors. It is only his third picture, the end to his "Red Curtain" trilogy, and quite possibly the film that future history will pick to define the present decade.

"Reflecting upon the merits of the Best Films"

This article will discuss the reasons why I've already chosen this film, even though "Ali" by Michael Mann hasn't been released, and although "Lord of the Rings" by Peter Jackson was released last Wednesday, I haven't seen it yet. The "list of five" Best Picture nominees this year should be: "Moulin Rouge", "The Man Who Wasn't There", "Ali", "The Lord of the Rings", and "Memento". I put "LOTR" in there even though I haven't seen it yet, and even though I do think David Lynch's "Mulholland Drive" is deserving of a nod, and did receive the New York Film Critics award for Best Film. "Memento" came out early in the year, and I'm really not sure if it is a 2000 or 2001 effort, but I seem to remember seeing it on some year end top ten lists this year. so I added it. Before analyzing why "Moulin Rouge" is far and away the logical choice for the best film of 2001, I'd give a short description of the merits of each of the films I have chosen for my "list".
First, "Ali", even though it isn't yet released. I just have a high "need to see" quotient for this film, Michael Mann's latest, with the always wonderful Will Smith, who I really would like to see get Best Actor this year. Michael Mann is a stylist and yet imbues his films with rich characterizations. Sight unseen, I really think, judging by the trailers at least, that "Ali" will be the "big Hollywood picture" in the oscar race this year. I haven't seen "LOTR" yet either, but by all accounts, this is a rich tapestry of a film, which is true to it's source material, which was the most popular fantasy literature when I was in high school and college, and seems to be one of those works which couldn't really be given justice in the movie medium until now. Some people don't consider "popcorn movies" like "Star Wars" to be oscar contenders, but "Star Wars" was nominated in '77 (it lost to "Annie Hall") and it received awards for sound, editing, score, and production design, not to mention visual effects. "Lord of The Rings" has a built in mythology, is set in a multifaceted universe, has universal characters, and vast scope. It just could be a popular shoo in. Peter Jackson makes visually arresting fare ("Heavenly Creatures", "The Frighteners") and "LOTR" has always had a much higher must see quotient for me than "Harry Potter", which I don't think is Oscar worthy at all.
The Coen Brothers shared best directing nods with David Lynch at the Cannes Film Festival this year. Joel Coen directed "The Man Who Wasn't There". Lynch directed "Mulholland Drive". I wrote a review of "Mulholland" but never got around to reviewing "Man Who Wasn't There". Both were on my list of five, but "Mulholland" got bumped for "Memento" which I had on the list, and just added again after seeing it a second time on DVD.
"The Man Who Wasn't There" is perhaps the best Coen brothers film, maybe even better than "Fargo" which netted Frances McDormand her oscar in 1996. "Man Who Wasn't There" hasn't been widely released, and is sort of under the cultural radar, unlike, say, last year's Coen brothers movie, "Oh, Brother, Where Art Thou" which was much more 'popular' however I thought it was the shallowest movie in the Coen's ouvre. Billy Bob Thornton (best actor nod, possibly the statuette) carries the picture, although he rarely speaks except in voiceover, and delivers a performance thousands of miles distant from french fried taters. He achieves an almost zen like connection to character, in a film filled with memorable characterizations, and also some of the most beautiful black and white cinematography (by Roger Deakins) I've ever seen. But a black and white film hasn't won an oscar since 1950, and I believe this Coen jewell will ultimately become a classic in retrospect. "Memento" is an independent film, and doesn't have a chance, but it was by far the most intriguing bit of film craftsmanship I've seen in a while. The "twist beginning" will probably never be accomplished with as much imagination as in "Memento", in fact, no other film will ever use this device. For that reason, and the fact it's a year old, "Memento" will probably not be nominated, but it should.

"Watching the DVD of "Moulin Rouge" Causes an Epiphany."

Which brings us to "Moulin Rouge".
I bought the DVD on Friday afternoon, at Best Buy in Torrance. There were two copies left. It came out on Tuesday. The film made money, but wasn't a gigantic hit. It has respectable critical response, but too many people, I believe, were turned off by the "love it or hate it" attitude in the press. Not enough people saw it, and those who did, and failed to be captivated, didn't recognize the genius bubbling up under the loud, colorful exterior. With the release of the DVD, which seems to be popular, ranking No.1 for the week, the rerelease of the film in theaters, at the time of year when it probably should have been released in the first place, and the news that it has been nominated for six Golden Globes (tying "A Beautiful Mind" Ron Howard's newest, also with oscar buzz, but not on my list.) I spent all day Friday and Saturday with the DVD, and hence I was prompted to write this piece. After immersing myself in Baz's miracle again, including by far the most comprehensive making of extras ever compiled by a director for a film, I am convinced this is the best film of the year, possibly the decade, and I just needed to sing it's praises. This is a film for the ages, and will, in time, stand right beside "An American In Paris" and "Singin' In the Rain" as one of the alltime greatest movie musicals. I'm a big fan of musicals, by the way, and even that aspect of this film is better appreciated after viewing a second time.
The DVD didn't convince me of the film's merits. Seeing it upon release did that. I haven't read my original review for a while, but I did think it was oscar worthy then, but figured some other heavy hitters would get in there by end of year. I must admit, perhaps I would have championed the Coen film (my second choice) had it not been for one of my frequent epiphanies encountered while viewing "Moulin Rouge" on DVD. This is the PERFECT antidote to the grief suffered by humanity since Sept. 11. This is the JOYOUS JUBILATION of a SPECTACULAR SPECTACULAR awash in kinetic energy, but above all mindful of that same grief. If ever one could claim to "have his cake and eat it too", Baz Lurhmann certainly can. I believe "Moulin Rouge" is the perfect choice for inclusion in the list of greatest movies of all time.

"The American Musical Film"

Some thoughts about the musical in American Film.
I knew "Sound of Music" won the Best Picture oscar in 1965. But it has been a long time since the oscar went home with a musical producer, and the phrase "all talking all singing all dancing" is one of the catchphrases of popular movie culture. Musicals are basically a dead issue in Hollywood. They used to be the biggest moneymakers. They caressed and comforted the nation during the Depression, and they roused the patriotism of the American people during the Second World War. They gained their flowering in the fifties, and MGM was king of the studios when it came to producing them. In the sixties, which we usually remember for socially conscious films like "In The Heat of the Night", "Midnight Cowboy" and "Bonnie and Clyde", oscar was awarded four times to musicals. They were still popular, but the popularity was waning as the budgets to make them became bigger. The musical died a bloated overwrought death in the seventies, and was replaced in the cultural consciousness by music videos and music video movies in the eighties. Sporadic attempts have been made to revive the form, but have largely failed. In the case of Scorsese's "New York, New York" sometimes that failure has been spectacular. In 1968, Carol Reed's "Oliver" beat "Funny Girl" for the oscar. That was 32 years ago, forever in the up to the minute cultural timespan. I would like to think that the first year of the new Millennium has produced the savior for the musical in the form of Luhrmann's "Moulin Rouge". As soon as it receives Best Picture in March, it's popularity, and the popularity for the form will be revived. We need to sing and dance, and "Moulin Rouge" allows us, as no other film in recent memory, to indulge that passion. I haven't overlooked the fine work the Disney studios have done. Perhaps the only true musicals in the old fashioned sense of the word produced during the eighties and nineties were from the Disney Studio. Jeff Katzenburg's "Beauty and the Beast" and "The Lion King" besides being cartoons, were also true Hollywood musicals, and wonderful motion pictures. But they are cartoons. The live action musical disappeared. Luhrmann has brought the form back to live action, but by using computer graphics, models, and a kinetic frenzied storytelling technique, has fashioned a film that is so up to date in it's execution, using every special effects trick in the bag, that it at once recalls the old musicals with sincerity and love, and creates an entirely new way of looking at the form.
He and his team, have, in fact, revived the form for a new decade, and this deserves merit. When I first saw the film , at the beginning of summer, I didn't "need" a musical. After Sept. 11, I did, and part of the epiphany I had while viewing the DVD told me America needs a musical. They need this one, "Moulin Rouge" right now, and it has arrived on DVD, is being rereleased, and with any luck, will soon be discussed around water coolers everywhere as the must see flick of 2001.

"First Impressions behind the Red Velvet Curtain of the 'Moulin Rouge'"

When the film was released,
There was a lot written about Luhrmann's "reworking" of the musical form, and whether what he did with the music in "Moulin Rouge" was artistic, relevant, or absurd. I can remember seeing the preview for the first time. What seemed absurd, of course, is seeing images which were from 1900 Paris, and hearing "Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend" and the Police's "Roxanne" on the soundtrack. This is the best example I can think of where the sounds and images in the preview, designed to promote the movie and get people in the theater, could be totally taken out of context, and cast a negative light on the movie itself before it opens. After seeing the film, the musical choices make perfect sense. My first impression of the film, one I already wanted to see, was negative because of this and the many articles decrying the practice of using modern songs in a period setting. The only thing seemingly "revolutionary" about the music in "Moulin Rouge" is that the songs are already cultural references, and when they are heard in the preview, out of context, they make no sense. "Roxanne", particularly, which was a big hit not too long ago.
The already forgotten "Knight's Tale" came out a few weeks before "Rouge", and since critics see so many movies,and it was still in their consciousness, they compared both and wrote about the habit of "using modern songs in period movies". In "Knight" this was a bad idea. In "Moulin Rouge" it is inspired and inspiring. "Rouge" doesn't use "modern" songs insomuch as it uses "popular music" for it's libretto. This is a convention as old as movie musicals. The entire movie title "Singing in the Rain" as anybody who's ever seen "That's Entertainment" can tell you, was used not only in MGM's oscar winning "Broadway Melody" in 1930 but in other MGM musicals for years before it became the title of a movie. In modern times, movie titles borrow popular song titles, and movies, songs, and music have always been intertwined. When "radio" was the "television" of the day, popular music often originated with the movies. Using "Roxanne" or "Your Song" in "Rouge" is brilliant. The reference of the already known song, when inserted into an already touching scene, enhances the emotion and the overall effect to the audience. Music, the "universal language", the "soundtrack for our lives" is used in an artistic way to define, enhance, and advance the action.
I saw the film the weekend it opened, and it immediately became my choice for Best Picture, and I thought Luhrmann was a genius. I couldn't understand why critics were saying "You'll either love it or hate it", unless they were the type who didn't like musicals in the first place, and even then I just don't see how they couldn't be moved.
Obviously I loved it. Normally, I don't like the rampant overuse of the tricks editors do with the Avid editor. The bag of tricks, when used heavily seems like the digital equivalent of flash and sizzle instead of substance and steak. "Rouge" employs the whole bag, and this was poised to bother me. All the normally cringe-inducing digital special effects, and CGI model shots, when used, and they are used heavily, not only belong in "Moulin Rouge" but the movie couldn't have been made without them. I always predict that computing power and digital imaging will someday allow all creative types the means by which to create movies, and Baz Luhrmann has, I believe, with this film, given us a benchmark for a new digitally created artform. The production design alone is worth the price of admission. Even the critics who didn't want to understand the film, or just didn't like musicals praised the production design. Costumes, editing, the psychedelic world of Paris at the turn of the last century is perfectly, stylistically and artistically portrayed.
The movie is a trip.
I never hesitate to bring up my drug-addled youth, and the psychedelic atmosphere (thematically represented by the character's use of absinthe and opium) is perfection as well, reminding me of all the positive colorful acid trips I've taken. Luhrmann has said (the DVD tells the viewer "everything you ever wanted to know" about the creation of the film) that the kinetic energy permeating the proceedings, and the manic way in which the film is cut, serve to propel the viewer into the nightclub itself. This is astoundingly well done, but the effect makes some of the subtler points get lost in the explosion of artistic creativity behind the red velvet curtain.
It moved too fast in the theater, but it's out again, and after watching the DVD, I'm ready to go back and visit it on the big screen. The DVD is probably the best ever mastered, and is sure to be a hit, and a classic, but you owe it to yourself to see this on a sixty foot screen. And you owe it to yourself to see it at LEAST twice.

"The Second Time Around"

I always intended the ElectricMovies site to include a second time around section, where I would revisit a given reviewed film and talk about my second impression. A great film only gets better. I can still watch "Gone With the Wind", "The Wizard of Oz", "Titanic", or "Pinnochio" and gain new insights each time. I usually catch each of the above mentioned films at least once a year on my home theater. When "Citizen Kane" was released earlier this year, the transfer was so much better than all the other versions I have that it was almost like seeing the film again for the first time. My roommate doesn't understand my love of movies, and the simple pleasure which repeat viewings accord me. It was while watching "Moulin Rouge" at home, with the lights out, the DTS surround playing at fairly high levels, and the monitor tweaked further by using the THX certified tests included on the DVD, that I finalized my opinon that not only is this movie 2001's best, but a movie for the ages, sure to be written about by more astute critics than myself for years to come. I knew the film was vibrant and kinetic: on second viewing I really got to know the characters, and sunk head first into the story, and the symbolism.
Baz Luhrmann talks at length about the symbolism, and the design of "Moulin Rouge". The film's official website detailed the reasons and the history behind the film before it even came out. Even if the viewer doesn't know who Orpheus is, or why the "bohos" in the movie seem as if they could have sprung from the bohemian late sixties as easy as from Paris in 1900, the use of symbolism, recurring motifs, and the pure language of film, and the musical film in particular, enhance the movie as a whole.
As I said, this is a multilayered film. The flash and fizz are the eye candy. The deeper one goes, the more times one sees the film, the more immersed he is in the plight of the human condition.

"Plot and Characterization"

The plot is deceivingly simple, yet incredibly complex beneath the surface. To sum up, since I never like to discuss plot anyway for fear of ruining an "audience moment", (Some of the more salient points are brought up in the musical number "Come What May" playing in the background of this page.) "Moulin Rouge" is a musical, and plots for musicals are by nature fairly simple. It is a story about love, and a celebration of the concepts so eloquently outlined by John Keats in the poem "Ode to a Grecian Urn". "Beauty is truth, truth beauty, That is all Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know."
The first character we meet is Toulouse Latrec (appropriately), who sings the first lines of the libretto introducing Christian, the main character. John Lequizamo plays Latrec. Ewan McGregor, better than he's ever been on film, is Christian, who is introduced a broken man, still grieving over the loss of his great love, Satine (Nicole Kidman). He is attempting to write the story we are about to see, and as he types on his vintage Underwood, we are transported back to Paris at the turn of the century, when he arrives, "a penniless poet", in search of truth, beauty, freedom, and love. He takes a room across from the "Moulin Rouge", the most celebrated nightclub of the time. He meets Latrec, who is rehearsing a play on the floor above his, when the lead actor in the play, a narcoleptic Argentinian, falls through the floor into his room. He steps in for the Argentinian, and astounds Latrec and his group of bohemian artists, by giving musical voice to the play, singing "The Sound of Music".
In no time at all, he is an integral member of the "Bohos". He visits the "Rouge", run in full music hall bombast by Zidler, played by Jim Broadbent ("Topsy-Turvey"). He is stricken by Satine, a celebrated chanteuse and courtesan, at first sight, as she descends into the auditorium on a trapeze singing "Diamonds Are A Girls Best Friend". He meets Satine when he is mistaken for the Duke (Richard Roxburg), who is about to bankroll an important show, falls in love, is found out (but not before Satine falls in love with him) and is ultimately given the job of writing the musical in which Satine will make her "legitimate" debut.
As the show, the spectacular "Spectacular Spectacular" proceeds through writing and rehearsals, the lovers attempt, with varying degrees of success, to hide the affair. (Again, the song playing in the background details the story.) As the show's opening night approaches, Satine banishes Christian from attending, warning him that the Duke has threatened him with death. The show must go on, however, and Christian risks his life to settle his differences with Satine.
I mentioned that the film begins with Christian mourning the loss of his love. That's all I will say about plot here.
Suffice it to say, that as with all musicals, the production numbers advance and comment upon the plot. That these songs are woven from recent musical history makes the accomplishment even more astounding.

"The Major Themes"

Let's start with "Truth, Beauty, Freedom, and LOVE". These words comprise the clarion call of bohemian society, given voice by John Leguizmo as Toulouse Latrec (the celebrated painter who is the subject of John Huston's "Moulin Rouge", a fantastic film in it's own right.) We don't see the tortured Latrec of Huston's film. His legs are still cut off at the knee, but he embodies the spirit of "BOHO" and leads the group of artists and creative types who frequent the "Rouge".
TRUTH is what exists. Even though the characters may be having a good time, their eyes are open to the ills and pitfalls of society. If a person is true, no matter what his beliefs or actions, he is redeemed.
BEAUTY is to be prized above all. The world is a beautiful mess, and you have to stop and marvel at the small detailed things in order to appreciate the major chords of life. (That last phrase borrowed from "New York, New York", by the way.) As the film is all glitz and pizzaz on the outside, it really deals with hard truths and wondrous beauty.
FREEDOM is what mankind strives for. Freedom of expression, and the freedom to exhibit it. "Moulin Rouge" is a valentine to this expression. The film doesn't settle for the mainstream. Luhrmann is not afraid to indulge his every whim, and it shows on screen.
LOVE is what the film, and basically, what life are all about.
Critics have mentioned that the plot is thin, almost nonexistant. To the contrary, the plot is one of those "universals", such as Shakespeare used in his plays, a love triangle, a tragic character, a villian, redemption and renewal. The plot exists as a sounding board for the themes, not only those listed above, but the ultimate thematic conclusion that "love conquers all". I know that's a cliche, but when confronted with a film like this, which liberally uses all the cliches in the book, it is wise to understand that the use of timeworn material, instantly memorable popular music, and all kinds of cultural/historical references serves to comment on the human condition. This theme might even seem like a cliche, but as presented, the viewer is bombarded with emotion and imagery, memory and illusion, and when the action stops for a "profound moment" as in the celebrated "Elephant Scene" (Chapter 13 on the DVD, where Satine sings "Someday I'll Fly Away") the audience cannot help but feel the emotion collectively. This is another fine reason to catch "Rouge" in a theater, if you can, because there is still nothing akin to enjoying the collective experience of humanity feeling the same emotions and reacting to them in a darkened theater.

"A Short History of Film"

As soon as the "red velvet curtain" parts, and the conductor frantically leads the orchestra in the first strains of the Twentieth Century Fox logo, you know you are in for a treat unlike anything you have seen before. On the DVD, two separate sections explain the conception and execution of the ample effects needed to "introduce" us to the movie, the period ("Paris, 1900" on title card), the denizens, and the character of Christian. From this wonderfully expressive opening salvo, to the whirling fantasmagoria of the film itself, to the sad but ultimately satisfying ending, Luhrmann is inviting us on a journey through the cultural history of film itself.
Each scene transition, the use of color (or lack of it), the indoor sets, and not coincidentally the blazing artifice of the whole endeavor itself serves as a microcosm of the complete theatrical and filmic process. This is a vast subject which lends itself to another essay, but I wish to outline a few of the more important instances.
Most importantly, we have the "play within a play" device, and the use of mistaken identity, frequently used by Shakespeare in the comedies. The "play within a play" device alludes as well to the backstage musicals of the thirties, specifically the Busby Berkeley musicals for Warners. Luhrmann even shoots a few of Berkeley's signature "kaliedoscope shots" for good measure.
Characters in the play within a play comment on the real characters. Music drives the plot, and brings an emotional punch to the themes. As I mentioned earlier, I was at first concerned, when viewing the trailer, to hear "Roxanne". But talem in context, the actual number "Le Tango de Roxanne" (Chapter 23n on the DVD) is one of the most critical and imaginative in the film.
As I remember stating in my review after seeing the film in the theater when it opened, the audience with me actually applauded after the "Like a Virgin" number (Chapter 19). Music, and the sadly neglected American Musical Film fulfills a basic need for humanity, and audiences will applaud ecstatically when moved. I think the time has come, and "Moulin Rouge" is the standard bearer for the movement, for musicals to return in full force to the screen.
The first song the audience hears, by the way, over the credits, are the opening strains of Robert Wise's oscar winning 1965 musical "The Sound of Music". I think this tips us off to the homage/revival/deeply moving musical experience on which we are about to embark.
The story is told in flashback, another theatrical and filmic "device", which affords the ending additional power as Christian is redeemed. (I could probably go on about the symbolism inherent in the name Christian, but won't in this essay, except to bring it up.)
Baz Luhrmann himself supplies the commentary, along with assorted members of the production. I haven't heard all the commentary tracks, since I began this project immediately after viewing the DVD, but there are two individual tracks, detailing the writing process, and production design. A second disc analyzes almost everything else about the production.
This film deserves the Best Picture this year like no other.
The DVD received an award for DVD of the year even before it was released. It certainly is the most comprehensive DVD the medium has to offer so far, and it surpasses every laserdisc I have as well, including the Criterion titles.

"A Final Musical 'Note'."

See "Moulin Rouge", hopefully in a theater, with an audience.
BUY, do not rent, the DVD.
See "Moulin Rouge" again.
Tell everyone you know about this website, and even if they don't read my lengthy commentary, at least tell them to sign in to the AllThingsMike Discussion Boards under the "Movie Reviews" section and tell me about what they think of this great work of art.
I want to spread the word. An Internet search for "Moulin Rouge" turned up precious few fansites, and I will start to "recruit" acolytes to the power of this film on those sites. Hopefully the word will spread. I KNOW this is the Best Picture. Last year, I didn't make the call, but the Academy was wrong, I wasn't. "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" was the best film last year, not "Gladiator". I've picked the winner repeatedly since 1992. (In 1991 I chose "Beauty and the Beast" over "Silence of the Lambs") Last year was a fluke. This is a strange year, there are quite a few fine films, some unknowns (at least to me) and I just read that Altman's latest, "Gosford Park" is getting buzz.
But the Buzz starts here, folks.
Behind the Red Velvet Curtain,
At the "Moulin Rouge"

essay/review copyright 2001 Michael F. Nyiri