moulin rouge ( 2001 ) nicole kidman , ewan mcgregor , john leguizamo , jim broadbent , richard roxburgh . cinematography by donald mcalpine . music by craig armstrong , marius de vries and steve hitchcock . screenplay by baz luhrmann and craig pearce . directed by baz luhrmann . 126 minutes . rated pg-13 , 4 stars ( out of five stars ) review by ed johnson-ott , nuvo newsweekly www . nuvo . net archive reviews at <a href= " http : //reviews . imdb . com/reviewsby ? edward + johnson-ott " >http : //reviews . imdb . com/reviewsby ? edward + johnson-ott</a> to receive reviews by e-mail at no charge , send subscription requests to <a href= " mailto : ejohnsonott@prodigy . net " >ejohnsonott@prodigy . net</a> or e-mail <a href= " mailto : ejohnsonott-subscribe@onelist . com " >ejohnsonott-subscribe@onelist . com</a> with the word " subscribe " in the subject line . after the press screening of " moulin rouge , " i stood in the lobby of the theater listening to the reactions of my friends and colleagues . everyone seemed a bit numb , understandable after sitting through a barrage of often-incongruous sounds and images . a pal of mine simply said that he loved the film and could hardly wait to take his wife to see it . another enthusiast immediately began to analyze the production , while a woman who flat-out hated the movie gave him the skunk eye . when one fellow quietly stated " i've never really been a fan of musicals , " the statement surprised me because , even though the story is told almost completely through song , i didn't think of it as a musical . there is so much going on in " moulin rouge " that " musical " seems too small a term to cover it . " moulin rouge " is the kind of creation that sends critics scurrying off to the big tub o' adjectives in search of proper words to describe the experience . australian director baz luhrmann , the man behind " strictly ballroom " and " romeo + juliet , " fills the heads of viewers with unique camerawork , opulent imagery and songs ranging from " the sound of music " to " smells like teen spirit . " sumptuous and beautiful , vulgar and overdone , " moulin rogue " travels through the looking glass while an ethereal stereo loaded with 50 years worth of catchy tunes operates on the " random " setting . 
