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6 Things That Make Baz Luhrmann An Essential Filmmaker

What should one expect of Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby as it hits theatres today? It has seen a series of trailers that have undoubtedly divided audiences, from what I’ve been able to gather anyway. I’ve heard responses that state outright that it looks like it could be the best movie or the worst movie of the year. My view is that every trailer released for it so far has been damn good, but this by no means indicates the film itself will actually live up to the standard set by the spirit of those previews.

[h2]1) Visuals you’ve never seen before[/h2]

Strictly Ballroom

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A lot of people went gaga for Holy Motors this past year, including me. But one thing I thought while watching it was hmm, why does this remind me of Moulin Rouge? It may be simply that the use of stunning visuals, not necessarily just great looking images but the combination of light and color and movement that just grabs your eyes and won’t let go, that I don’t recall any movie quite nailing between my viewings of those two strikingly different films. Holy Motors was fairly sparse in what it did visually, while Moulin Rouge was the polar opposite, deliberately overloading all of our sense, not least of which our eyes.

The Great Gatsby appears to be a visual follow-up to Moulin Rouge. Strictly Ballroom showed hints of this unique visual style, Romeo + Juliet had a few more elements of it, and Australia went for a more classical Western look, all the power to it. But Moulin Rouge was absolutely dazzling, purposefully excessive, decadent, showcasing a world that was simultaneously bright and beautiful and also haunting and surreal. It’s like David Lynch staging an opera it’s so surreal. And the light and movement seems like it will never stop, overwhelming us, and just when we feel like we can’t take us anymore, Luhrmann pushes us just a little further, and then strips everything down to a nearly silent shot of Nicole Kidman’s blue face. How is that not absolutely enthralling?

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