Spring 2002 Films:

Memento (2001)
Adapted from a short-story written by his brother, writer-director Christopher Nolan's Memento has been deservedly hailed as one of the best films of 2001. Although the basic premise is simple enough-- a man seeks revenge for a horrific crime-- Memento offers several important, unique twists that completely set it apart from even the most mind-bending recent films.

Leonard Shelby (Guy Pearce, Priscilla, Queen of the Desert; L.A. Confidential) is trying to find a mysterious man known only as "John G.," who raped and murdered his wife. But Leonard faces several serious obstacles. During the attack, John G struck Leonard on the back of the head, and now Leonard is unable to form any new memories. Psych majors, who will appreciate the overall psychological accuracies of the film, know that this condition is known as "anterograde amnesia." Leonard knows this, too, because he investigated an insurance claim about a man named Sammy Jankis (Stephen Tobolowsky, Groundhog Day), who suffered from a nearly identical problem, before his own accident. Some people have said that Leonard's knowledge of his own condition is a plot-hole in Memento, but those people aren't thinking very hard. Fortunately, Leonard's a smart guy, and he tattoos the most important facts about his investigation onto his body, and he constantly writes notes to himself as reminders of what he's supposed to be doing.

The lack of memory, however, isn't his only major problem. Unable to pinpoint anyone's motives for helping him, Leonard (and, by extension, the viewer) must condition himself to be suspicious of the sketchy undercover cop, Teddy (Joe Pantoliano, The Matrix), and the mysterious bartender, Natalie (Carrie-Anne Moss, also from The Matrix), who he thinks "will help [him] out of pity." Are they actually leading Leonard to the real John G, or are they merely taking advantage of Leonard's condition for their own benefit? Do their motives matter, since Leonard won't remember them in the first place?

As though a fascinating, intricately-woven plot and truly stellar performances-- especially from Guy Pearce, who emerges from supporting-character obscurity-- weren't enough to carry the film, Nolan ingeniously brings the viewer into Leonard's world by manipulating Memento's sense of time. Although intercut black-and-white segments, in which Leonard tells the story of Sammy Jankis, run in chronological order, the primary action of the film runs in reverse, making the film's shocking final moments even more powerful. Memento is an example of ballsy, inspired filmmaking that's destined to become a classic.


Moulin Rouge! (2001)
Not many films can lay claim to defining their own genre, but that's what the most recent film by director Baz Luhrmann (Strictly Ballroom) essentially does. At its most obvious, Moulin Rouge! is a full-blown musical of the Singin' in the Rain variety, but that's hardly a sufficient description of Luhrmann's frenetic, self-aware, gleefully anachronistic vision of life in the "Bohemian" Monmartre area of turn-of-the-century Paris. More of an "experience" than a "film," Mouiln Rouge! has polarized critics and audiences this year. Its style alone-- characterized by Luhrmann's unique, if idiosyncratic, camerawork-- ensures that it's all but impossible to have a lukewarm reaction to Moulin Rouge!, which more than earns the exclamation point in its title.

Ewan McGregor (Trainspotting, Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace) stars as Christian, a just-off-the-train idealist who has fled stuffy old England to celebrate the Bohemian ideals of "Freedom!" "Truth!" "Beauty!" and "Love!" in the center of this grand cultural revolution, Montmarte. Within the first minutes of the film, Christian has: been disturbed by a narcoleptic Argentinian, embraced a group of playwrights led by Henri Toulouse-Latrec (a surprisingly effective John Leguizamo), composed the title song from The Sound of Music for a play about Goethe, sipped his first taste of absinthe, hallucinated a bewitching Green Fairy who looks just like Kylie Minogue, and impersonated a "famous English poet" who may or may not be Elton John.

Yes, that's all within the opening sequence.

At the Moulin Rouge, the epitome of Montmartre's Bohemian lifestyle taken to its most garish excesses, Christian becomes smitten by the show's most beautiful, most talented courtesan, Satine (Nicole Kidman, To Die For, The Others). Satine is supposed to meet a smarmy English duke, who will invest in the Moulin Rouge and make her into the greatest star since Sarah Bernhard. But she accidentally mistakes Christian for the duke, and Christian confesses his undying love for Satine with a stirring version of "Your Song." Not surprisingly, complications ensue, as Satine is torn between her mutual love for Christian and her occupational obligations to the duke, who agrees to fund the "Spectacular! Spectacular!" musical that Christian et al are writing for Satine. Christian is consumed by jealousy, and Satine is consumed by consumption, although neither of her would-be suitors knows that she's dying.

The key to Moulin Rouge! is its music. An odd, yet fascinating combination of pop songs from top 40 radio and standards-- selections include "Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend," Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit," and Madonna's "Like a Virgin"-- the songs run the risk of pulling the viewer out of the Moulin Rouge and into a cloying game of Name That Reference!.

Fortunately for Luhrmann, the performances in the film are so earnest and so endearing that they transcend the inherent kitsch of the material. Most of the awards-show focus has been on Nicole Kidman, but it's Ewan McGregor who really shines in Moulin Rouge! The sincerity of his singing of "Up Where We Belong" is almost overpowering, and his performance of "Roxanne," during a sultry tango that is arguably the film's most compelling scene, is no less astonishing. Even when he's not singing-- and McGregor's voice is Moulin Rouge!'s secret weapon-- Christian is a nearly perfect representation of youthful idealism. As Satine, Kidman gives a career-redefining performance, and she simply glows. If there's a weakness in her performance, it's that her voice is undeniably pretty, but it lacks the authority and conviction to match McGregor's.

But with exceptional supporting performances from Leguizamo and Jim Broadbent (Topsy-Turvy, Iris), with a simple but honest love story, and with so much visual eye candy on screen, that one quibble is easily overlooked. Either you'll stomp and cheer for the sheer spectacle of Moulin Rouge!, or you'll run screaming from the theater, complaining of sensory overload.