I think my mood almost completely explains what it is about the film and how it leaves me. I went to Moulin Rouge again last night. That will probably be the last time I see it on the big screen because it is slowly dropping from theaters. This isn't a bad thing really as it has been out for a while now and has been hanging on to audiences still (though the theater wasn't as packed last night as it has been previously) but I really wish that it had done better as far as how much it made and how much of an impact it had on audiences overall. According to Variety, it has finally hit 50 mil. (second hand info)

Enough about revenue statistics, what I really wanted to do in this entry is explore why I find this movie so remarkable.

It touches on a lot of the sensibilities and styles that I am quite fond of such as culture and styles of the turn of the century. The costumes are simply stunning. The sets are magnificent. The lavish sets such as the theater, main stage show, and the elephant, use layer after layer of detailed setting, with repeating heart-shaped framing of the scene, etc. This is how I would want one of my movies to look, because it just sucks you right into every detail. I would also want really powerful scenes, such as two of my favorite numbers in the movie (only one of which shows up in the soundtrack) "The Show Must Go On" and "Tango Roxanne" The scene where Satine comes out into the spotlight just as the exquisite red curtains close was a perfectly powerful scene in "The Show Must Go On". If you know much about Queen or their album Inuendo, where this song is from, you would understand the touching correlation of the song.

The whole movie has gone just beyond postmodern (yeah, I know, film critic term) into a new level for films. I really hope to see more films come out like this. There is just so much crap out there as far as movies; no one pays attention to detail or even style any more.

Another thing that I have always liked that this movie falls into are stories of the struggling artist. One work that I absolutely love is RENT, a modern take on the “La Boheme” story. It is a musical that spent a lot of time on Broadway and came to Los Angeles last year. Some of my friends did a miniature performance of it at a game last year too. It touches on life, love and relationships and the struggle of bohemian life. The music for it is also very well done. There is just some things that fascinate me about life when looked at from such perspectives.

If you don't get a chance to see the movie, take some time to explore the Moulin Rouge site.

Well, I was in a pretty good mood all morning, despite the numerous problems that I have encountered today at work. I came in this morning with Moulin Rouge still fresh in my head from last night, songs repeating themselves in my head, art design ideas coming to fruition from it’s influence. After learning that I may have an eviction on my credit record and a possible legal problem on my hands now because of it, among the many things that have come my way, the mood has been coming down a bit. Fortunately only two hours of my day at work remain.

C’est la vie!