If a feeling is too intense to speak of, then sing it. That’s an artistic mandate that applied for millennia to all forms of drama (Greek tragedy, Italian opera, Hollywood movies), though many audiences today find it peculiar, laughable. Leave it to Baz Luhrmann, the unreconstructed Aussie romantic who infused Shakespeare with a contemporary urgency in Romeo + Juliet, to go both retro and now-tro in a musical that blends MGM and MTV. It’s a convulsive love story daubed in a giddily gaudy palette, with Ewan McGregor as the guy and Nicole Kidman as the gal. Moulin Rouge! wore its soft heart on its fancily embroidered sleeve and, for a moment, brought love stories back in fashion. Certainly back in style.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtEgAx80NC4]