Last year, director Ang Lee didn't merely pay homage to the kung fu movie, he re-created it with the sumptuous Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. This year, director Baz Luhrmann does the same thing for the movie musical. Moulin Rouge is a breathtaking and grandiose cinematic experience that I won't soon forget--combining many genres including romance, tragedy, farce and of course, music.

The time is 1899. The place is Paris. In this dizzying spectacle of a movie, Nicole Kidman plays Satine, a singer and dancer in a nightclub who is basically paid to make men's fantasies become a reality. Ewan McGregor is Christian, a poor playwright, and a sweet natured man of incredible talent, but a novice to the ways of love. Needless to say, when Satine and Christian inadvertently meet at the Moulin Rouge, sparks fly, and this jeopardizes Satine's goal of a financially secure future. Of course love has no boundaries, and that is the true theme of this visually stunning picture.

As stated earlier, Moulin Rouge is, at it's heart, a musical. But it is an entirely new breed of musical. From Rogers and Hammerstein, to the Beatles, to U2, to Madonna, to Nirvana, no song is off limits. That's part of the fun of watching this movie. It may take a moment to realize what tune you are actually hearing, and believe me, there are hundreds of them. There are moments in this picture where it seems that it will slip into total absurdity such as a rendition of Dolly Parton's classic, "I Will Always Love You." Alas, right when I thought I might burst into laughter, the actors' sincerity shined through, and I was magically sucked into the drama of it all. Moulin Rouge is full of moments like this.

Kidman is a revelation. This is easily her best work since To Die For. She's beautiful, vulnerable, funny and even showcases a great sense of comic timing. McGregor is equally effective in the romantic lead. He has an energy and softness that will no doubt drive the women crazy. Most importantly, Kidman and McGregor have real chemistry, and in a love story, nothing is more important. The huge supporting cast also excels. There isn't a bad turn in the bunch. It should also be noted that we get all the actual singing voices here. Kidman and McGregor sound surprisingly dynamic--they both possess convincing vocal chops. The rest of the cast probably wont receive recording contracts anytime soon, but it doesn't matter. Moulin Rouge benefits from this because it only adds to it's sincerity. No dubbing or studio polished voices. This is the real deal.

Moulin Rouge is also breathtaking to look at. The art direction is superb as is the cinematography. From the first frame of this picture (this includes a bizarre Twentieth Century Fox logo sequence), I felt like I was in for something that I'd never seen before. This certainly ended up being the case. The glue holding the picture together is the vast array of interesting and innovative musical arrangements. If you've heard the soundtrack, you're only getting a snippet. There is much more to the film.

Baz Luhrmann is an absolute madman. But in a good way. If he has any faults I'd say it's in the editing department. There are sequences in Moulin Rouge that feature far too much cutting. Rather than letting certain moments linger, he feels compelled to edit the living daylights out of them. I don't know if this a lack of trust on his part, or if he felt it would enliven the experience. Still, this is a minor quibble when dealing with a picture like Moulin Rouge. This is a highly creative film with a Shakespeare mentality (it is said that the impressive screenplay is based on the story of Orpheus) and a look all it's own. Luhrmann has reached new heights and I was far more impressed with this than I was with his take on Romeo and Juliet. As Christian so eloquently puts it in this movie; "This is a story about Love." Well he couldn't be any closer to the truth, because I love Moulin Rouge.