Moulin Rouge! (2001)Movies

Movies from Film Forum, 06/07/01Baz Luhrmann's over-the-top, tongue-in-cheek, sentimental Strictly Ballroom became an unexpected international hit in the mid-'90s, integrating pop tunes and a Rocky formula with the world of ballroom dancing.. Then he mixed up time periods and cultural references for the Leonardo DiCaprio edition of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. These hyperstylish productions were, it seems, just the warm-up. Luhrmann's new film Moulin Rouge is even more outrageous, more musical, and more audaciously sentimental. (Would you like cheese with that musical?)Plunging us into a half-historical, half-fantasy Paris in 1899, Luhrmann establishes a fairy-tale tone right off the bat. We're introduced to a talented but penniless poet named Christian (Ewan McGregor), a celebrity...