Moulin Rouge Means Red Mill
I Wanted to See Obi-Wan Singing
I’ve heard many good things about this movie and I was absolutely gutted when I actually watched it.
I went into this movie thinking it was a musical and then realized with slow, mounting horror, that it was a cover band movie trying to make it seem like iconic songs throughout the decades were organically sung by a pair of star-crossed lovers in Paris circa 1900.
The first few songs they sang were cute, funny in the way they were presented and how out of place yet fitting they were in the scene. The more it did this, the less inclined I was to think of it as charming and more as a cop out.
Don’t get me wrong, the entire premise was fun and joyful and it looked like such a fun film set to be on with all the moving set pieces and the acrobatic choreography, but I couldn’t be lost in the story for longer than 5 minutes at a time. I was so interested in trying to guess the popular song and figuring out the title and the artist before the chorus that whatever story they attempted to push out was lost for me.
It was a romance built on deceit and loving in the shadows. The protagonists were so in love, so defined by this love, so moved and entrenched in it, that they unfortunately ended up 2-dimensional and boring. Yes, Ewan McGregor portrays a writer, but the only story he tells is their doomed romance. Nicole Kidman portrays an actress who dreams of a grander stage, but loses that because of the romance.
Both parties lose their idealistic dreams as they are drawn into and around each other in a macabre dance to the death.
Their cast members, though silly in contrast to the passion of their romance, were memorable and lively and so much more human.
Their cast mates were portrayed as stupid, but I’d argue they were willfully ignorant to allow this blossoming of love where they knew it could never thrive because they, too, wanted a grand story to remember.
Quirky and theatrical (but let’s be real. These are theatre kids. Of course they’re going to be twerking outside the box) and unafraid to show off every emotion they’re feeling no matter the time or the location.
The set pieces? Stunning. The choreography? Fantastical. The acting? Chef’s kiss. The romance that utterly destroyed and eviscerated the hopes and dreams of not just the protagonists but literally everyone around them? Not my favorite cup of tea.
But I will say…sometimes I want to believe in a love like that too.
Also my favorite POC character who had almost no lines but was a pivotal character and caretaker in the movie was literally named “Chocolate” and I’m not sure how to feel about that.
