MY MOVIE SHELF: Romeo + Juliet

The Task: Watch and write about every movie on my shelf, in order (Blu-rays are sorted after DVDs), by June 10, 2015.  Remaining movies: 157+55 (from our late holiday. Merry Christmas to MEEEEEEEE!) = 212  Days to go: 149

Movie #226:  Romeo + Juliet

If you take the manic energy of Moulin Rouge and insert it into a modern (’90s) retelling of one of Shakespeare’s most famous plays, what you get is this raucous, visually arresting spectacle of Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet. I remember a lot of brouhaha over the idea of placing the familiar tale in a modern city — with cars and guns and everything — while retaining the original Shakespearian dialogue, but the more I watch it, the more it works for me. The movie places kids like Jamie Kennedy (with pink hair) as Sampson and other Montague boys in the position of representing the youth of the day within the context of this classic old tale, thus demonstrating how relevant it still is, and how relatable.

Leonardo DiCaprio is Romeo, in love with being in love and uninterested in his parents’ feud with the Capulets. Claire Danes is Juliet, uninterested in her mother’s designs for her to marry young Paris — Dave Paris, that is (played by Paul Rudd). Both actors are at peak loveliness here, framed in shots underwater and through aquariums and against stunning backdrops that nonetheless can’t compete with the stunning blue of their eyes. Truth be told, when each character speaks of the other’s beauty, this film makes you a believer in it. I’ve never seen such gorgeous leads.

The spirit of the tale is kept intact as well, though. Both DiCaprio and Danes master the coyness, the despair, and the double entendre with aplomb. Even if you don’t understand the words themselves, the expressions of their faces tell all. Tybalt (John Leguizamo), too, is fiercely offended and rage-filled when he goes after Romeo. And when Mercutio (Harold Perrineau, who never once screams “WAAAAAALT”) is dying in Romeo’s place and declares “a plague on both your houses,” his resentment is palpable. Then, when Romeo is in hysterics, shouting at Tybalt “Either thou or I or both must go with him,” insisting Tybalt pay for Mercutio’s death, it’s perhaps the most powerful moment in the film, and his despair is felt.

I love Romeo + Juliet, but I’m totally one of those goofballs who practically itches with anxiety in the final scenes, as all the missed connections lead to the tragic end. How does the Priest (Pete Postlethwaite) not get the message to Romeo directly? How does he not have a backup plan? I get upset — every time — that things aren’t just a second altered in order to things to work out. Look the other way, take another moment, give a second’s pause. In any of a dozen moments, that’s all it would take to completely change the outcome, and yet it never happens. It nearly kills me every time.

“For never was a story of more woe, than that of Juliet and her Romeo.”

MY MOVIE SHELF: Moulin Rouge!

The Task: Watch and write about every movie on my shelf, in order (Blu-rays are sorted after DVDs), by June 10, 2015.  Remaining movies: 192  Days to go: 197

Movie #185:  Moulin Rouge!

If you’re looking for a movie that’s wildly theatrical, over the top and amazing, director Baz Luhrmann is the gold standard. It’s his signature style and I don’t know anyone who does it better. His films are glorious spectacles — feasts for the eyes. Though not my favorite of his films, Moulin Rouge! is the best, most shining example of this .

Set in 1899 Paris and the “Bohemian revolution,” a young writer named Christian (Ewan McGregor) happens into an opportunity to pen the show “Spectacular, Spectacular” for production at the Moulin Rouge club. Championed by Toulouse-Lautrec (John Leguizamo), he goes there one evening to win over the star, a courtesan named Satine (Nicole Kidman), with his poetry so she will approve of him taking over the show’s script. Meanwhile, Satine is being encouraged by her manager Harold Zidler (Jim Broadbent, being amazing and virtually unrecognizable) to quote-unquote entertain a Duke in attendance that evening (Richard Roxburgh) to get him to invest in the show. Naturally, Satine mistakes Christian for the Duke and attempts to seduce him, but his earnest adoration (and impeccable singing of modern tunes) captivates her and she falls for him. Unlike a lot of those mistaken identity stories, this misunderstanding is rectified almost immediately and the real tension of the film comes from Satine trying to hide her growing love for Christian from the Duke while also stringing the Duke along so as not to jeopardize the show or the club. Also, she’s dying. (Any woman who coughs roughly in the first act of an old-timey story, must die of consumption in the third. It’s Chekov’s tuberculosis.)

The real draw, though, and the thing that sets Moulin Rouge! truly apart, are the musical performances to popular songs from the twentieth century. Satine does a mash-up of “Material Girl” and its reel world inspiration “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend,” while Madonna gets another nod as Zidler knocks out a great cover of “Like a Virgin.” Elton John’s “Your Song” gets to play very large in the plot, meanwhile, and The Police’s “Roxanne” is featured nicely. The rest of the songs are incredible medleys, from “Zidler’s Rap” featuring “Smells Like Teen Spirit” and a modernized “Lady Marmalade,” to a show-stopper on top of Satine’s elephant that brings together nearly every iconic love song it can think of (by everyone from The Beatles to U2 to Dolly Parton) as part of a unique call and response.

The original music is great, too, though, and the marquee song, “Come What May” lives up to every expectation. It’s a powerful, anthemic, soaring love song that builds passion and hope in equal measure. The ridiculous rules technicality that kept it from Oscar eligibility  is just another reason the Best Original Song category needs a serious revamp (not that I begrudge Randy Newman winning his first Oscar, but come on). As far as I’m concerned that was the best original song in a movie that year.

I know a lot of people who shirk Moulin Rouge! because of its crazy, flamboyant, musical nature, and if that’s not typically your thing, fine. I get it. But I think Moulin Rouge! is the type of film that’s surprisingly, unexpectedly enjoyable for those who go in not really into it, and incredibly fabulous for everyone already predisposed to like it. So it’s a win-win. What more can you ask for? Kylie Minogue as an absinthe fairy hallucination? Done!