Great post, Alisha, I'm glad you're back to do another film with us....
I just saw it last night, and it was a hard one for me to 'get into'. I still haven't gelled everything yet, but I think the one thing that stood out was "suspension of disbelief."
slade mentioned this in 'exposing the apparatus', and I can't agree more. Just the fact that it IS a musical....begs you to suspend disbelief even as it's self-conscious of itself (hey, you're watching a show!). And I love musicals....
But you are always "suspending disbelief" every time you walk into a theatre or pop in a DVD. What you're seeing isn't real. Moulin Rouge! is so very self-conscious of itself, that it isn't real, from the settings to the songs....of course, no one would sing "Roxanne" as a tango in 1900 Paris (or Argentina for that matter!) but they asked us to believe it....the question is, did we go along with it?
I think it demands a "s o d" way beyond any other film in recent memory....very challenging in that regard.
And Alisha? "Clearly this film was meant for the big screen." Agreed, that's why they make widescreen TVs.
