Sitting
down to watch MOULIN ROUGE for the first time, I found the film to
be mesmerizing and visually astounding. Sadly, the movie musical had been
a dead art form for decades; however, thanks to MOULIN ROUGE, not
only has the genre been resurrected, the very language of telling a story
musically on film has been redefined. With MOULIN ROUGE,
co-writer/director Baz Luhrmann creates a cinematic world of perfect
artifice to tell a highly operatic story with contemporary pop music- all
of which has been perfectly honed to the needs of his story. Although set
at the turn of the 20th Century, MOULIN ROUGE is a movie whose
incredible visual splendor could not be achieved without 21st Century
cinematic techniques. Very little of what one sees on the screen in MOULIN
ROUGE has anything to do with reality, thus the fairytale Paris of
1900 that the movie depicts was created through countless seamless layers
of digital trickery.
MOULIN
ROUGE tells the story of an aspiring writer named Christian (Ewan
McGregor) who goes to Paris to discover his art amongst the bohemian
atmosphere of the day. After a chance encounter with Toulouse Lautrec
(John Leguizamo), Christian is taken to the Moulin Rouge, where he is to
meet Satine (Nicole Kidman), the beautiful courtesan who is to star in a
new musical extravaganza that he will write. Because of a mix up, Satine
mistakes Christian for a potential backer for the Moulin Rouge’s new
musical production, and she works her feminine wiles on the naïve writer,
who instantly falls in love with her. Although Satine’s feels equally
enamored with Christian, their love affair is a rocky one. Coming between
Satine and Christian is The Duke (Richard Roxburgh)- the potential backer
of the Moulin Rouge’s new production, who is willing to invest his money
in the show, only if Satine becomes his exclusively. The cast of MOULIN
ROUGE also features Jim Broadbent, Garry McDonald, Jacek Koman,
Matthew Whittet and Kerry Walker.
20th
Century Fox Home Entertainment has made MOULIN ROUGE available on
DVD in a wide screen presentation that has been enhanced for 16:9
displays. To say that the transfer is merely gorgeous is to do a complete
disservice to this incredible visual extravaganza. The filmmakers have
pushed, prodded and played with the image to create the movie’s
astonishing look and the THX certified transfer flawlessly handles
everything that they could devise. Everything appears wonderfully crisp
and highly detailed throughout the unspooling of the film. Colors are
generally very lush and oftentimes they capture the flavor of old style
Technicolor hues. Flesh tones are usually quite convincing, although
Nicole Kidman’s impossibly white skin seems to radiate almost
supernaturally. Blacks are dead on the money perfect, plus the whites are
incredibly pure and stable. Contrast can be very smooth or incredibly
harsh, depending on the mood the filmmakers are trying to create at a
given moment. Shadow detail is usually quite excellent, except when the
image is pushing the creative envelope. Digital compression artifacts are
well concealed by dual layer authoring.
MOULIN
ROUGE comes with 5.1 channel sound
mixes in both the Dolby Digital and DTS flavors. The sound is almost as
incredible as the image, although this isn’t a particularly effect laden
soundtrack. The musical number is where the soundtrack shines and by
taking full advantage of the 5.1 channel encoding of these discrete
digital sound formats. The music is incredibly vibrant, spacious and
rendered with excellent fidelity in both formats. As one might expect, DTS
has a bit of an edge over Dolby Digital due to its higher bit rate, but
believe me, the standard bearer is no slouch and does not disappoint in
the slightest. The bass channel is surprisingly forceful, and adds punch
to the musical numbers. Dialogue is crisp and always completely
understandable. A Spanish language track is also encoded onto the DVD,
along with English subtitles.
Animation
and sound serve to enhance the DVD’s interactive menus. Through the
menus, one has access to the standard scene selection and set up features,
as well as the supplemental features, which have been spread across the
two discs that comprise this set. On disc one there is an interactive Behind
The Red Velvet Curtain of the movie that allows one to access
supplementary materials at various points in the film by pressing the
enter button on their remote controls whenever the green fairy icon
appears on the screen. Two running audio commentaries are also present on
disc one. The first features director Baz Luhrmann, production designer
and costumer Catherine Martin, and director of photography Don McAlpine,
while the second is with Luhrmann again and writer Craig Pearce. Both
commentaries look at the film in extensive detail and offer much to those
interested in the making of the movie.
Disc
two offers a wealth of material including a better than average featurette
on The Making Of Moulin Rouge, as well as a program
dedicated to The Stars of the film. This Story Is
About offers a look at the development of the film's screenplay
and the various stages it went through. The Cutting Room
provides a look at various sequences that did not make it into the film,
as well as alternate edits of other sequences that were ultimately
abandoned. The Dance offers six of the film's dance numbers
and shows them in their entirety, some of which can be viewed from
multiple angels. The Music provides a detailed look at the
various aspects of the music and the songs used in the film- look for a
great live performance of the song Lady Marmalade by
Christina Aguilerra, L'il Kim, Mya and Pink in this segment. The
Design gives one a detailed look at the complexities of the film's
production design, costumes and effects work. Finally, Marketing
takes a look at various aspects of the film's publicity, including
trailers, promotional reels and print materials. If MOULIN ROUGE is
purchased as part of the Red Curtain Trilogy box set, then additional
materials can be found on the bonus disc BEHIND THE RED CURTAIN,
which offers an interactive documentary that contains hours of behind the
scenes footage for this film as well as ROMEO + JULIET and STRICTLY
BALLROOM.
In
my humble estimation MOULIN ROUGE is a visual masterpiece of
creative cinema art. The movie not only entertains- it mesmerizes the
viewer. 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment has done a tremendous job with
the DVD, creating a demonstration quality disc that shows off the
capabilities of one home theater system. Coupled with the excellent
supplemental section, MOULIN ROUGE is a must have DVD.
MOULIN
ROUGE is available on DVD
individually for $29.98 or along with ROMEO + JULIET and STRICTLY
BALLROOM as part of the Red Curtain Trilogy box set for $69.98.
Sitting
down to watch MOULIN ROUGE for the first time, I found the film to
be mesmerizing and visually astounding. Sadly, the movie musical had been
a dead art form for decades; however, thanks to MOULIN ROUGE, not
only has the genre been resurrected, the very language of telling a story
musically on film has been redefined. With MOULIN ROUGE,
co-writer/director Baz Luhrmann creates a cinematic world of perfect
artifice to tell a highly operatic story with contemporary pop music- all
of which has been perfectly honed to the needs of his story. Although set
at the turn of the 20th Century, MOULIN ROUGE is a movie whose
incredible visual splendor could not be achieved without 21st Century
cinematic techniques. Very little of what one sees on the screen in MOULIN
ROUGE has anything to do with reality, thus the fairytale Paris of
1900 that the movie depicts was created through countless seamless layers
of digital trickery.
MOULIN
ROUGE tells the story of an aspiring writer named Christian (Ewan
McGregor) who goes to Paris to discover his art amongst the bohemian
atmosphere of the day. After a chance encounter with Toulouse Lautrec
(John Leguizamo), Christian is taken to the Moulin Rouge, where he is to
meet Satine (Nicole Kidman), the beautiful courtesan who is to star in a
new musical extravaganza that he will write. Because of a mix up, Satine
mistakes Christian for a potential backer for the Moulin Rouge’s new
musical production, and she works her feminine wiles on the naïve writer,
who instantly falls in love with her. Although Satine’s feels equally
enamored with Christian, their love affair is a rocky one. Coming between
Satine and Christian is The Duke (Richard Roxburgh)- the potential backer
of the Moulin Rouge’s new production, who is willing to invest his money
in the show, only if Satine becomes his exclusively. The cast of MOULIN
ROUGE also features Jim Broadbent, Garry McDonald, Jacek Koman,
Matthew Whittet and Kerry Walker.
20th
Century Fox Home Entertainment has made MOULIN ROUGE available on
DVD in a wide screen presentation that has been enhanced for 16:9
displays. To say that the transfer is merely gorgeous is to do a complete
disservice to this incredible visual extravaganza. The filmmakers have
pushed, prodded and played with the image to create the movie’s
astonishing look and the THX certified transfer flawlessly handles
everything that they could devise. Everything appears wonderfully crisp
and highly detailed throughout the unspooling of the film. Colors are
generally very lush and oftentimes they capture the flavor of old style
Technicolor hues. Flesh tones are usually quite convincing, although
Nicole Kidman’s impossibly white skin seems to radiate almost
supernaturally. Blacks are dead on the money perfect, plus the whites are
incredibly pure and stable. Contrast can be very smooth or incredibly
harsh, depending on the mood the filmmakers are trying to create at a
given moment. Shadow detail is usually quite excellent, except when the
image is pushing the creative envelope. Digital compression artifacts are
well concealed by dual layer authoring.
MOULIN
ROUGE comes with 5.1 channel sound
mixes in both the Dolby Digital and DTS flavors. The sound is almost as
incredible as the image, although this isn’t a particularly effect laden
soundtrack. The musical number is where the soundtrack shines and by
taking full advantage of the 5.1 channel encoding of these discrete
digital sound formats. The music is incredibly vibrant, spacious and
rendered with excellent fidelity in both formats. As one might expect, DTS
has a bit of an edge over Dolby Digital due to its higher bit rate, but
believe me, the standard bearer is no slouch and does not disappoint in
the slightest. The bass channel is surprisingly forceful, and adds punch
to the musical numbers. Dialogue is crisp and always completely
understandable. A Spanish language track is also encoded onto the DVD,
along with English subtitles.
Animation
and sound serve to enhance the DVD’s interactive menus. Through the
menus, one has access to the standard scene selection and set up features,
as well as the supplemental features, which have been spread across the
two discs that comprise this set. On disc one there is an interactive Behind
The Red Velvet Curtain of the movie that allows one to access
supplementary materials at various points in the film by pressing the
enter button on their remote controls whenever the green fairy icon
appears on the screen. Two running audio commentaries are also present on
disc one. The first features director Baz Luhrmann, production designer
and costumer Catherine Martin, and director of photography Don McAlpine,
while the second is with Luhrmann again and writer Craig Pearce. Both
commentaries look at the film in extensive detail and offer much to those
interested in the making of the movie.
Disc
two offers a wealth of material including a better than average featurette
on The Making Of Moulin Rouge, as well as a program
dedicated to The Stars of the film. This Story Is
About offers a look at the development of the film's screenplay
and the various stages it went through. The Cutting Room
provides a look at various sequences that did not make it into the film,
as well as alternate edits of other sequences that were ultimately
abandoned. The Dance offers six of the film's dance numbers
and shows them in their entirety, some of which can be viewed from
multiple angels. The Music provides a detailed look at the
various aspects of the music and the songs used in the film- look for a
great live performance of the song Lady Marmalade by
Christina Aguilerra, L'il Kim, Mya and Pink in this segment. The
Design gives one a detailed look at the complexities of the film's
production design, costumes and effects work. Finally, Marketing
takes a look at various aspects of the film's publicity, including
trailers, promotional reels and print materials. If MOULIN ROUGE is
purchased as part of the Red Curtain Trilogy box set, then additional
materials can be found on the bonus disc BEHIND THE RED CURTAIN,
which offers an interactive documentary that contains hours of behind the
scenes footage for this film as well as ROMEO + JULIET and STRICTLY
BALLROOM.
In
my humble estimation MOULIN ROUGE is a visual masterpiece of
creative cinema art. The movie not only entertains- it mesmerizes the
viewer. 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment has done a tremendous job with
the DVD, creating a demonstration quality disc that shows off the
capabilities of one home theater system. Coupled with the excellent
supplemental section, MOULIN ROUGE is a must have DVD.
MOULIN
ROUGE is available on DVD
individually for $29.98 or along with ROMEO + JULIET and STRICTLY
BALLROOM as part of the Red Curtain Trilogy box set for $69.98.
