Countries & Movies: Australia
Australian cinema is presented in the FilmGourmand’s Golden Thousand by two movies: “The Piano” by Jane Campion and “Moulin Rouge!” by Baz Luhrmann. Today we are talking about the movie “Moulin Rouge!”.
The premiere of the film "Moulin Rouge!" was held on May 9, 2001 as part of the Cannes International Film Festival.
The plot of the film is a fusion of the plot lines of several classical operas: La Traviata by Giuseppe Verdi, La Boheme by Giacomo Puccini, Orpheus and Eurydice by Christophe Willibald Gluck and Paris Life by Jacques Offenbach.
Initially, the filmmakers planned to release it on screens for Christmas 2000, so that it could be presented at the 2001 Oscars. But then it was decided to present the film at the Cannes Film Festival, because of which the premiere of the film was shifted in the spring of 2001.
Hundreds of critical articles were devoted to the film. Basically, these articles contained such a characteristic as “a unique fusion of the kitsch of modern pop culture and the sophistication of classical opera productions”. However, this did not prevent the film from receiving 85 film awards and 130 nominations. Including such prestigious ones as the Golden Globe in the USA and the Screen International Award from the European Film Academy.
A review by Elvis Mitchell, written in The New York Times just the day after its premiere in New York, suggested that the movie Moulin Rouge would be accused of heartlessness. But, in the opinion of the author of the review, "the truth is just the opposite. The movie has so much heart that the poor overworked organ explodes in every scene. You'll have to admit that there's nothing else like it, and young audiences, especially girls, will feel as if they had found a movie that was calling them by name."
Roger Ebert wrote about this film: " "Moulin Rouge" the movie is more like the Moulin Rouge of my adolescent fantasies than the real Moulin Rouge ever could be. It isn't about tired, decadent people, but about glorious romantics, who believe in the glitz and the tinsel--who see the nightclub not as a shabby tourist trap but as a stage for their dreams."
In Russia, the premiere of the film took place just 3 months after the premiere in Europe and the United States.
64% of IMDB and Kinopoisk users around the world gave this film a rating of 8 to 10.
Based on the above indicators of film success, according to FilmGourmand’s version, its rating is 8.584 and it occupies 285th place in the Golden Thousand.
In addition to the movie "Moulin Rouge!" and the previously mentioned film “Piano”, the following films were included in the top ten films of Australian cinema (but without inclusion in the FilmGourmand’s Golden Thousand):
- Mad Max: Fury Road, director George Miller, 2015
- Shine, director Scott Hicks, 1996
- Lion, director Garth Davis, 2016
- Wake in Fright, director Ted Kotcheff, 1971
- Hotel Mumbai, director Anthony Maras, 2018
- Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior, director George Miller, 1981
- The Great Gatsby, director Baz Luhrmann, 2013
- Red Dog, director Kriv Stenders, 2011