Hey folks, Harry here... Let's abandon the schtick between Quint and I here for a second. Quint went home after MOULIN ROUGE and wrote his heart upon a computer screen and emailed it to me. I woke up this morning to find it laid bare in an Email entitled "Quint's Moulin Rouge Review". It is a very rare thing when a film forces you to take the step and all that that entails. To the person that Quint wrote this to, every word he speaks, every misspelling, every punctuation problem.... warts and all this is Quint speaking at you. Come what may, this is a beautiful piece....

Ahoy there, squirts. 'Tis I, everyone's favorite crusty seaman, Quint, here to put in my two cents on the epic love story opening wide today, Moulin Rouge.

I'm gonna start off by saying I'm not very well versed in musicals. I've seen one or two Busby Berkeley films, only one Gene Kelly film and some of the more recent musicals, like Grease, Little Shop of Horrors, Blues Brothers, etc, but I do love me my musicals.

Harry was over in my shack today, killing time before the screening, and asked me what musicals I had on DVD. "Um... The Rocky Horror Picture Show..." "Is that it, you crusty bastard?" "Um... I have Yellow Submarine, Help, A Hard Day's Night and Magical Mystery Tour..." That, ladies and gentlemen, is not only the bulk of my musicals DVD collection, but the bulk of my musicals knowledge, which is unfortunate being that I've been starting to really get into that genre in the last year or so. We ended up watching Magical Mystery Tour, by the way... if anybody cares.

I was ready for this movie, though. I had been listening to Elephant Love Medley, Tango de Roxanne and Fatboy Slim's Because We Can from the Moulin Rouge soundtrack pretty solidly for the last 3 weeks. I couldn't wait to see the visuals that would compliment these terrific songs. With the expectations I had going in... I was certain Baz was gonna let me down, but was hoping he'd hit at close to my high expectations as he could. Motherfucker hit the bullseye. The film wasn't better than I expected it to be, but I expected it to be magnificant. The film ended up being exactly what I was looking for, it was everything I was hoping it would be.

Much like Col. Knowles, the film had me smiling from the opening logo. Ewan and Nicole have an amazing chemistry in this film. Now, I have never really loved Nicole Kidman. I've liked her a lot, especially in films like To Die For and Eyes Wide Shut, but have never really LOVED her until this film. It's easy to see not only why Ewan falls for her, as she's stunningly beautiful, but what he sees in her other than her beauty. You believe there's something more than just lust going on here, which is so crucial to a love story such as this.

This film had me emotionally. I felt exactly what Ewan was feeling at the beginning of the picture because I'm kinda going through a similar situation right now. Whereas Ewan's character, Christian, has fallen for someone he knows he shouldn't fall for, a prostitute, I've found myself falling for someone I know I shouldn't have fallen for, a friend. If Christian had any choice in the matter, he might have picked someone to forge a relationship with that didn't carry such high emotional baggage with them. Much is the same situation I find myself in. I wish I coulda picked someone I connect with on such a level that isn't already a friend. Unfortunately, like Christian, I don't have any say in such things.

I've been keeping quiet about my feelings, scared to death that not only will she not feel the same way, but that the fact that I have these feelings about her will end our friendship. The fact is, though, me keeping this all pent up is creating a tension in the friendship and I don't know how much more our friendship can take of this. I've talked myself into telling her how I feel, to get this all out on the table where it can either be accepted, rejected or discussed and put away, letting us continue to be good friends... I guess this is my way of chickening out and incorperating all this in my Moulin Rouge review instead of telling this all to her in person, for I know she'll be reading this.

To be honest, it wouldn't crush me if this girl didn't feel the same way towards me... it'd hurt, to be sure, but nothing that would leave any permenant scars... but it would definitely crush me if this put an end to our friendship, one of the best and most fulfilling friendships I've ever had. I'm 99.9% sure she doesn't feel the same romantically towards me, but as long as there's that 0.01% left, I can't let this go and move on.

Believe it or not, my personal emotional turmoil actually has something to do with this review. The above is where I was emotionally watching this picture. I'm a romantic guy anyway, but seeing the characters run through the same emotions that I have recently undergone myself really sent this movie home for me. Seeing the first realization of, "Oh, my God. I really feel something for this person," seeing one of the characters not being able to say what they feel in fear of being hurt... I haven't only been there sometime in the distant past, where it is only a faded memory, I'm currently living there.

In the film, Nicole Kidman was trying to ignore the feelings she has, knowing they will complicate her life and lead to nothing but pain. In real life, I'm trying to shake the feelings I have, pretty sure they won't lead to anything other than someone being emotionally hurt. Much like Ms. Kidman's character, Satine, felt towards Christian, no matter how hard I tried not to view this girl as anything more than just a friend, I just kept finding myself back in the same place.

So, this movie worked for me amazingly. There were scenes so beautiful and touching that I felt my eyes start to get wet, which doesn't happen to me very often, boys and girls. I know I would've liked this movie regardless, but due to my current emotional state it really hit some personal buttons with me. But I don't think that makes my view of this movie any less valid. If anything, it makes it even more valid because anyone who has ever been in love and/or anyone who has ever found themselves in the same kind of Catch 22 situation that I'm currently in will relate just as well to this movie.

There are scenes in the film that I'd hold up with the very best of musical numbers I've seen. Granted, that's not many, but I have seen some great stuff and the Tango de Roxanne scene stands right up there. I also think the Elephant Love Medley is one of the most funny, most romantic, most visually stunning single musical numbers ever put to film. That opinion is as of right now, just past 2:30am CST on June 1st. Will that change in time, after I further educate myself in the world of musicals? Maybe. But as of right now, with minimal exposure to the world of musical cinema, that's where those scenes in this film stand.

Lest I forget: John Leguizamo. While not the driving force of the film, he still leaves one of the biggest impressions... at least for me. Maybe it was because I just saw how underused and wasted his talents were in that stupid Martin Lawrence movie, What's the Worst That Could Happen?, but Leguizamo really surprised me. There were certain scenes where he could have easily fallen into what comes easiest to him, the whacky comedy moments, but instead he brought depth, emotion and seriousness to the character. Bravo!

After the movie, I ran over to WalMart and finally bought the soundtrack. I knew my mp3s of only 4 tracks weren't going to last me for long, so I plunked down the money for the CD. I have listened to it play start to finish twice since sitting down to write this review. I have never done that before, run right out and pick up a film's soundtrack immediately after seeing it. It wasn't, "Oh, man. I love this soundtrack. I'll have to pick it up sometime." It was, "I need this soundtrack NOW!"

I know the film worked for me so well that it prompted the spilling of all that personal stuff above, which'll probably result in me getting a phone call tomorrow saying, "What the fuck! Asshole! CLICK" Who knows, maybe she feels the same way, eh? Don't know. But, I'd be happy with a "Let's talk about this" call. Maybe she won't even read the review and all of this was for nothing. The only thing I'm sure of that will come of this review is the below talkbackers calling me a "fag" or a "fuckin' sissy ass romantic piece of shit" for liking the movie and exposing a really personal side of myself to you folks.

And on that note, I'm gonna go crawl into bed and wait for my phone to ring. Will I be the asshole? Will I have an honest to God girlfriend? I kinda doubt it, but maybe I'm just selling myself short... Will I have lost a friend? Will I be in the exact same place I am now? Only time will tell. No matter what the outcome, I'll have the Moulin Rouge soundtrack to cry with if worse comes to worst.

I'll also have a load of work to bury myself in. Don't think I'm gonna slacken off, folks. I got some cool interviews coming up for you guys (and gals), not to mention a few more script reviews of some cool upcoming projects. 'Til that day, squirts, this is Quint bidding you all a fine farewell and adieu.

-Quint

Come What May... Come What Maaaaaaay....