Movie Musicals That Got It Right: Moulin Rouge
Last time, I was talking about how I was running out of musicals made in the last 20 years to review, and that I would soon be stuck reviewing musicals that I dread. But lo and behold, I remembered that there were still some good musicals out there! How could I have forgotten the musical that got modern musicals rolling? Moulin Rouge (2001) is less a traditional musical than an amped-up, psychedelic jukebox musical sprung from the mind of director Baz Luhrmann. Although set in Paris at the fin de siecle , it contains songs like "Roxanne" (the Police), "Like a Virgin" (Madonna), and "Your Song" (Elton John). The actors sing with their own voices, but no doubt there was some Auto-Tune sweetener along the way. Almost everything about Moulin Rouge is secondary to the visuals -- the kaleidoscope of colors and constant swirling motion expressed through quick-cutting, fast zooms, and pans. The visual craziness is a Baz Luhrmann trademark, though it