The tone I was trying to describe earlier fits in with the notion of themes in Luhrmann’s movies. His entire filmography deals in love stories, from innocent true love stuff, to ironic detachment yet appreciation for romance, to laughably naïve yet heartbreakingly sincere, to whatever Australia was. The pervading thread to it all is something about love to varying degrees. The progression of his Red Curtain Trilogy may almost point to a sort of disillusionment or dissatisfaction with the way love is treated in love stories, as a foolhardy endeavor that in the real world would lead only to disappointment and heartbreak.
And yet he goes back to it again and again (it’ll be interesting to see what he does with romance in The Great Gatsby, with the term taking on different yet really interesting meaning in the book). Since I still maintain that Moulin Rouge is actually a rather savvy take on the tropes and silly love songs relating to romance, I see Luhrmann as akin to something I heard Louis CK talk about recently. There are so many obstacles to people “falling in love,” whatever that may actually entail, that it’s sometimes hard to believe that it actually happens at all. But it does, seemingly against all odds. And there has to be something to this, something to explain the strange metaphysical or perhaps merely chemical justification for people acting completely irrationally and forming these loving bonds. It’s a bit of an absurd thing in real life, and so reflecting that absurdity in movies while celebrating it is elusive. But I think that’s what Luhrmann does,
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