Moulin RougeMoulin Rouge! is a visually sensational musical about a poor writer, Christian, who falls in love with a courtesan, Satine, and their struggle to stay together while putting on a stage show financed by an unnamed duke who also lusts after Satine. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essayI have never seen such a great move. The term I would use to best describe it would be a harbinger of sensory overload. Every perceptible element of the film was spectacular and extravagant, from the colors, to the sets, to the costumes, to the characters, to the music and cinematography. This film is the antithesis of films like No Country for Old Men or The Hurt Locker; it isn't concerned with realism and instead immerses itself in swathes of color and jovial dynamism. There was so much to take in that I ended up with two pages of notes on the film. I'll try to identify some of what I noticed here, including several similarities to other films by director Baz Luhrmann. Already from the frame this film is unique. The 20th Century Fox logo and theme song are introduced by a conductor, and the film begins and ends behind a red curtain. This non-diegetic display introduces the events of the film as, itself, a theatrical spectacle, a fantastic presentation to watch. In fact, that's exactly what it seemed like. In the very first diegetic scene, when Christian's first-person narration covers a fast-moving visual tour of the film's Paris, black and white was used instead of color. It doesn't take a scholar to recognize that this is used, along with depictions of ruins, dark alleys and alleged prostitutes, to lend a sense of desolation to the introduction. When Christian reveals that his love is dead, this is affirmed and justified. Once the film's introduction is complete and the story begins to move forward (albeit in flashback), the audience and Christian are introduced to the extraordinarily eccentric bohemians. The entire cast of characters, The Bohemians, is a testament to the importance of costume design. Their amalgamated Steampunk-meets-Hipster-meets-Disneyland appearance is truly a spectacle, and it's no surprise that this film won an Oscar for Best Costume Design. Their quirky style immediately serves, without even a word (well, even falling from Christian's ceiling helped), to convey the eccentricity of their personalities. Their performances, of course, also help achieve this, as does the editing and design of this scene. The shots are short, the movements unnaturally fast, and the lighting and set design are reminiscent of another overly saturated wonderland, Mr. Magorium's Emporium of Wonders. An often recurring element in this film's score, which I still don't understand, is the use of modern (or at least 20th century) music in the explosively orchestral numbers. Their use creates a sort of Easter egg hunt for viewers, who will recognize passages from songs by The Police, The Beatles, Nirvana, U2, Madonna and others, but other than that, I couldn't say I understand the concrete motivations for basis of the decision to use them. From what I've seen, the use of modern music alongside ancient or historically set stories seems to be something of a trademark of Baz Luhrmann's films, such as The Great Gatsby and Romeo + Juliet. There was extensive use of very short shots in this film, particularly in the scenes set in the eponymous Moulin Rouge when it was in full operation. The shots of the scene of the first appearance of the club last fractions of a second and, together with the hyper-fast movements, create.