Hit Me With Your Best Shot: "MOULIN ROUGE!"

In the Hit Me With Your Best Shot series we look at pre-selected movies and name what we think of as the best (or at least our favorite) shot. Anyone can play along and we link up. Next wednesday's topic is Fritz Lang's noir "The Woman in the Window".

But tonight, we celebrate Baz Luhrmann's "Spectacular! Spectacular!" which went wide on US screens ten years ago on this very day.

MOULIN ROUGE!

SHE'S CONFESSSSSSSIIIIINNNNGGGG!
She suddenly had a terrible desire to go to a priest."

We begin with a confession.

Though I was an early veritably possessed cheerleader for Moulin Rouge! since I beheld its genius on opening night at the Ziegfeld theater in NYC, though I saw it five times in the movie theater (a post '80s personal record), and though I named it Best of the Aughts when the decade wrapped, I hadn't actually sat down and watched Moulin Rouge! in full for at least five years. This wasn't intentional. I wrote about the movie so often from 2001 to 2005 that at some point I just put it on the shelf, afraid of breaking its spell. I worried, sitting down in the dark, the remote far from me as if I were back in the temple of the movie theater, 'would it still thrill?'

A silly question it was. From the first frames I was swept up. By the time Zidler and his diamond dogs came rushing at the camera (best shot!?!), a chaotic swishing mess of vibrant color, sexual promise and mashed-up music, I forgot to take any notes at all. By the time Satine, the sparkling diamond, descended from the ceiling onto the dance floor, I had completely blanked on the the "best shot" assignment. So, returning to skim again today, a decision: I would only choose a shot from the film's second half, which I haven't written as much about.

Moulin Rouge! famously borrows, sometimes with song and other times visually, from dozens of famous musicals but it's comic/tragic masks are not unlike the work of the great Stephen Sondheim. In many of Sondheim's most famous musicals, he starts out light and comic and you leave the theater at intermission for fresh air that you don't even need since you're already walking on it. Within seconds of returning to your seat, he's out to crush your heart. Into the Woods provides a famous and literal example: the first act, which is a play on famous fairy tales, ends with the "ever after" part. When you return for the second act you're left to wonder what comes next and that "happily ever after" part sure turns out to be a false bill of goods.

And so it goes with Christian and Satine's romance, which comes on, like the whole of Moulin Rouge!, in a heady hallucinatory rush of color, comedy and eroticism and then dives straight into tragedy after the (literal) romantic fireworks. Consider the juxtaposition of the shots above, one when Christian sings "I-I-I-I-I-I will always love you" (best shot!?!) and Satine is fully on board" and the much later shot of Satine, realizing she has to give Satine up singing "today's the day when dreaming ends" (best shot?!?) which she sings with her eyes glassy, not really looking at the caged bird sharing the frame, who we already know she feels a kinship towards (Someday I'll Fly Away). Both shots are audaciously clichéd, but that's how Moulin Rouge! plays it, boldly throwing ALL tropes at you and daring you to not reembrace them in a fresh dizzying form.

Zidler himself precipitates this vacant "you're dying"/ 'I'm already dead' staring and the longer I live with the movie the richer the Zidler/Satine relationship becomes. So for the moment, and there are roughly 100,000 shots worthy of the name "best" in the film, this is the one that absolutely kills. A slow cold zoom out on Zidler performing Zidler as The Maharaja (aka also the Duke) claiming Satine all over again. It drains the last life from our heroine. Art is imitating life and then life will imitate the art again.

She is mine. She is mine."

The cinematography by Donald McAlpine which so deserved the Oscars that year (sorry LotR), loves to shoot Nicole Kidman with blue light whenever she is bereft of love. Even in the "Elephant Love Medley" when she's first resisting Ewan McGregor she's lit in blue while he is glowing with warmer light right behind him. By the end of "Spectacular! Spectacular!", beginning with the exact moment when she coughs on stage, all the hot pink light which had been battling it out with the blue, vanishes to leave her like this.

She is mine. She is mine."

She always was... Zidler's that is. Christian was never able to steal her away, only playing with her in her gilded cage for that Summer of Love, 1899.

Madonna's classic "Like a Virgin" number is only used comically in the film, to mock the prostitute/john Satine/Duke relationship. But it could just as well have been used dramatically, with Satine in Christian's arms; thawed out, shiny and new. This beloved movie, ten years familiar, can still touch you for the very first time. It hasn't lost a drop of heart or magic in a decade's time. 

 

18 Children of the Revolution
Visit these fine blogs for more on this "Spectacular! Spectacular!"

• Victim of the Time "vibrant infatuations"
• Film Misery Christian, trapped
• Amiresque the blue eyes of Moulin Rouge!
• Cheap Seat Reviews thank you for curing him of his ridiculous obsession with love!
• Intafada afternoon delights
• Movies Kick Ass the camera loves her
• Film Actually "You're daying, Satine"
• Being Norma Jeane Midnight in Paris?
• Stale Popcorn "brash. cold. bright"  You can can can.
• Mosaical Musings "Roxanne... you don't have to put on the red light."
• Ahora Satine and her beauty.
• Derrek's Tumblr "romance on a grandiose scale"
• Moved by a Screen Dream Christian in agony
• Antagony & Ecstasy when in doubt, go puerile.
• Serious Film love/hate relationship: best and worst shot.
• Awww, The Movies couldn't possibly choose one.
• missemmamm "smoldering temptress?"
• Sketchy Details a sunny moment via "Come What May"
• Sorta That Guy a love that will live forever!

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Lisbeth Salander's Wardrobe Malfunction

The internet is very excited today by this snapshot of a poster image for David Fincher's take on the popular property The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, in which Daniel Craig embraces gothic Rooney Mara from behind.

It's a great image but it immediately gave me an acid flashback to Justin Timberlake and Janet Jackson's infamous Superbowl calamity. Perhaps Janet Jackson paved the way, martyring her career, so that decorative nipplage could one day wallpaper the land in movie poster form? Well done, Janet!

 The Playlist, who posted this image, suggest that David Fincher won a marketing war with this, but I can't imagine that this is the poster that will actually be up all over movie theaters... at least not in the USA where nudity is verboten... and this is tame for a European poster but it's still neat and grim looking.

The tagline is fun but no match for the "THE. FEEL. BAD. MOVIE. OF. CHRISTMAS." Here's the cleaned up red-band trailer to follow that camcorder version.

and now the American teaser poster (notice the order of the dates changes)

Oscar June Predix Update. What We Know Now...

... can fit into a thimble or a wee baby's hand. Sometimes by May's end one or two fairly-sure things have become clear, but the closest we have to that, still, is Rango in the animated film department. Old news.

What did the Month of May teach us suggest to us?

1. The Weinsteins, who finally won their first post-Miramax "Best Picture"  with The King's Speech, will not likely be satiated by that triumph. It'll just make them hungry for another. They have been beefing up their competitive slate. They either have faith in both Phyllida Lloyd's Thatcher bio The Iron Lady (which sounds typically "prestige" enough for Oscar play, even if it turns out dull) and the crowdpleaser The Artist (which sounds accessible enough for Oscar play, despite being a silent film) or they didn't want anyone else to have one or both of them. You never know with them. And you won't know till the last minute; the Weinsteins are notoriously patient about waiting it out, either because they like to see what the awards air is like, or just because they believe more strongly in the "ONLY DECEMBER!" Oscar strategy than any other distributor. We'll find out more about their plan towards the end of the year. 

2. Cannes elevated the intriguing possibility of Kirsten Dunst Best Actress traction for Melancholia -- something we've long hoped for for one of our favorite actresses -- but what's yet more delicious than her Cannes win is the myriad ways this could play out with a complicated mix of voting factors (actual high quality performance, off-performance sympathy votes, career comeback of sorts, Lars von Trier's unpredictable track record in US distribution); Those moviegoers who love to follow the politics of Oscar, not just the movies, are bound to enjoy this particular story as it unfolds. 

3. The warm reception for Midnight in Paris raised the distinct possibility that Woody Allen could see his 15th Best Original Screenplay nomination. Pundits, including myself, have regularly sold the idea that Mr Allen is always a threat in the Original Screenplay category but in truth, that "always" is quite an overestimation given that he hasn't been a  "regular" since the 90s. (He only received one nomination in the Aughts making him less an always then a 10% kinda guy these days). He didn't even get much Oscar traction for Vicky Cristina Barcelona despite a Golden Globe  Picture win and an eventual Oscar for Penélope Cruz. But Midnight, might be a different story. Firstly, there's no individual performance that awards bodies can latch on to -- the showiest work is done by the people with the teeniest parts -- and if anyone reaps the benefits of the love for the film, it'll be Allen himself. Midnight is quite light on its feet despite a theme with melancholy resonance, and it's performing well at the box office. As The Film Experience has always maintained, Oscar voters tastes are basically a figurative amalgam of critics + moviegoers + media; if those three groups like something (even if they do so for entirely different reasons), Oscar will join them.

4. I'm not sure what we know about The Tree of Life. I feel lost here. At first one heard "mixed reviews" than it won the "Palme D'Or" and then it opened. It's been a whirlwind of activity. If the random stories of older audiences walking out are true -- can one ever trust "stories" about certain demographics loving or hating any film? Said stories always seem rife with possible agendas and/or horse's mouth biases -- than it might be dead in the water for Oscar. BUT. It just opened. Let's see how it plays as it expands. If Malick teaches us anything he teaches us patience, right? See you at his next film in 2019! (I'm kidding. Supposedly the next film has already completed shooting... but I'll believe back-to-back Malick releases when they happen and no sooner.)

5. My guess is that Pirates of the Caribbean bombed too badly with critics to win it much heat in the technical categories where it's previously done fairly well for itself. Thor wasn't a big enough deal financially and in the passion-meter of its fans to score any technicals (though it's worth noting that its production designer Bo Welch is an Academy favorite), so the next two superhero tests are X-Men First Class and Green Lantern. For some possibly silly reason, I've convinced myself that it's Captain America that might get the tech nods that you know at least one of the comic book films will win.

Eventually comic book films will invade Oscar. Though it seems improbable now it's a matter of percentages. As more and more of them get made, Oscar will have less and less ways to avoid them.

Here's something we don't know...

What the hell is going on with The Eye of the Storm? It's one of those titles, an adaptation of a novel, that I only discovered in researching potential Oscar players (and talking in the comments to you!) but I never hear a peep about it in terms of "official" anything. Nevertheless it looks promising and actressy, and maybe Geoffrey Rush's post-Speech heat and general hammy deliciousness (to AMPAS palettes at least) can help it out? I've tried everything I could think of to embed the teaser (everything I could think of = copy and paste) but nothing works so you'll have to go to Twitch to see it.

Fly away, pigeon. Just say your farewell and go.

Dying Charlotte Rampling theatrically dismissing bitchy Judy Davis is my new two second obsession. Enjoy it with me!

UPDATED OSCAR PREDICTIONS ALL CATEGORIES
Click on the individual category titles to explore further.

May. It's a Wrap

One more month until the "halfway mark" for 2011. Of course the film year is a bit different stretching basically from each March to the following February; the Oscar calendar, don'cha know!

Best of May In Case You Missed It...

• Beauty & The Beast - the magic flower is his heart, you see.
• "Maverick" at 25 -Michael, a Top Gun virgin, checks out the Cruise "classic" on its 25th bday
• Film Bitch Awards - 2010 finally gets all wrapped up. I Am Love, The Social Network and Black Swan led the nominations and medals ceremony
• Waif vs. Waif -Special Guest Ester pitted Mia Wasikowska against Saoirse Ronan. Who won?
• May Flowers: The Hours it's a favorite film for many readers. It's aromatic, too.
• Melancholia Fallout - Lars von Trier's press conference blunder was the story everyone wanted to discuss from Cannes
• Hit Me With Your Best Shot: Matador - Pedro Almodóvar's dark bloody thriller made an excellent choice for the "best shot" series
• Ishtar's Second Wind -Elaine May reminisces about her maligned but funny flop
• Reader Spotlights continued with four movie-loving men: K.M., Sergio, John and Borja
• Cannes Goddesses - Jose and I discussed the best gowns at Cannes

Most Popular Post Game of Thrones
I guess everyone wanted to discuss HBO's new show
Runner Up: Top Ten: Tom Hardy From Behind
Most Discussed Timetables Tween Films
We're so Goldliocks. Which directors are fast, slow and "just right".
Runner Up: Cannes Winners

COMING IN JUNE
Moulin Rouge!, X-Men new and old, Super 8, Green Lantern, The Tree of Life, Midnight in Paris, DVD Reader's Choice, True Blood Season 4, and more to be determined by our whims and your enthusiasms.

Stage Door: "The Normal Heart" (Plus Feisty Divas, McDormand and Chenoweth)

Time for your semi-weekly theater fix. This one's about a famous play that has (thus far) eluded movie adaptations, the most publicized of which was Barbra Streisand's attempt to have a go at it in the late 1980s.

A new Tony nominated Broadway revival of Larry Kramer's psychic scream The Normal Heart opened recently to absolutely ectastic reviews. The play is very much a product of its time and place, AIDS ravaged 1980s New York. The original play premiered in 1985 Off Broadway, with film star Brad Davis in the lead role. (Davis was diagnosed with the disease himself that same year though this wasn't revealed to the public until 1991 before his death) The play must have been an absolutely defiant shock to the system at a time when people were still struggling to even say the word "AIDS" out loud. Though Kramer's best known work has been revived a few times since, this is its first Broadway run.

It's a strong play, even accepting that it errs always on the side of pedantics, but I'm afraid I wasn't nearly as taken with the new production as most have been. I'm assuming most of the enthusiasm for this production would have been a bit more muted if the 2004 Off Broadway revival which starred the great Raul Esparza as "Ned Weeks" aka Larry Kramer, had been a bigger success. The play's bristling humanity and hammered messages were somehow both easier to take and harder to stomach (if that makes any sense) in the intimacy that the Off Broadway stage provided.

a starry cast for the 2011 revival

It's the scale that's often the issue here. Tony nominated Joe Mantello is a fine actor but it was difficult (for me at least) to wipe Esparza's quieter and more nuanced portrayal from memory as I watched him. Ellen Barkin, who may win the Tony for her very aggressive and crowd-pleasing second act monologue as "Dr. Death", has Mantello's same problem of scale. It seems to be a question of direction since nearly everyone in the cast is constantly shouting at the top of their lungs. Anybody would given the narrative proceedings but the play is so innately blistering that actors who trust that ravaged vocal chords could never grant it more potency than it already has fare better; best in show is Tony nominated featured actor John Benjamin Hickey as Ned's lover "Felix Turner", who both admires and is perplexed by his partner's constant shouting and fighting.

[Tangent: Though it's neither here nor there, Lee Pace, who plays Ned's antagonist, the handsome but closeted "Bruce Niles", is AMAZINGLY TALL. He towers over the rest of the cast, which I wouldn't have guessed watching Pushing Daisies (Did everyone stand on boxes around him?) He is so imposing physically, live on the stage, that I was forced to check his height on IMDb on the way home: 6'3"]

Mantello and Hickey in "The Normal Heart"This production's white and boxy stage design is both weirdly offputting and far too-static in the first act and emotionally right and eerily tomb-like in the play's much stronger second act. The final moments, aided considerably by Hickey's performance and inspiring lighting, do stun. But I have to confess: I never once cried though I was a bawling mess through the entire second act of the 2004 revival.

Tony Kushner's Angels in America, which arrived a half decade after Kramer's play, has long since been canonized as one of The Great Masterworks of American theater. Angels has held tight to the unofficial title of the AIDS play. But in its own particular personal way, The Normal Heart is its angrier cruder earth-bound cousin. The Normal Heart doesn't bother with symbolism or poetry -- whether that's through lack of ability or easily imagined bilious rejection of escapism is up to you -- and generates all of its admirable potency from its fragile impotent humanity, raging against the powers that be, from within its diseased bodies. Everyone should see both plays in their lifetime.

This production of The Normal Heart: B
The 2004 revival: an easy A

Stage People
La Daily Musto Frances McDormand stopped the show (literally!) during one of the last performances of Tony nominated Good People (from the Rabbit Hole author David Lindsay-Abaire)
Awards Daily David Mamet's turn to the dark side, politically speaking.
Playbill Composer David Yazbek (of The Full Monty fame) talking about Pedro Almodóvar and the adaptation of Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown for the stage.

Busy Broadway Baby: Kristin's new CD and new TV show

Finally...Just Jared spoke with Kristin Chenoweth who will try to tour for her new CD around her schedule for her new TV series "Good Christian Belles" and, one presumes, eventual future Glee cameos because who doesn't love "April Rhodes"? Busy busy!

I love the Cheno as you know so I'm thrilled by her ever increasing fame, but I can't imagine buying her country CDs and this lead off single sounds very generic. Her first CD "Let Yourself Go" is glorious fun but it's all show-tunes which is just where she shines. Personally I only listen to country music if it leans towards bluegrass or folk and stays far from generic "pop" unless it's just straight up A+ music like the Dixie Chicks. How will Kristin marry her different personas in a tour. I've seen her live five times now and while she is amazingly charismatic on stage and I've never regretted a ticket purchase her concerts seem increasingly schizo as her fanbase expands. Will country fans be able to deal with her comedic/operatic  "Glitter and Be Gay" moments... or will she just dump all the showtunes / opera to appease mainstream fans?