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When I was putting together my top 50 films of the 2000s list, Baz Luhrmann’s groundbreaking musical was among the top 20. Every musical of the 2000s that came after owes a bit of their success to it. The energetic flick breathed life into the dying genre both financially and artistically. Mixing tragedy with humor and song, the film tells an epic love story through a medley of modern popular music.

Christian (Ewan McGregor, STAR WARS prequels) moves to Paris to become a bohemian writer. He falls into an acting troupe led by little person Toulouse-Lautrec (John Leguizamo, SUMMER OF SAM), who believes that the naïve author will become the voice of the bohemian revolution. They go to the Moulin Rouge to pitch their new play to burlesque star Satine (Nicole Kidman, DEAD CALM). However, she mistakes Christian for The Duke (Richard Roxburgh, VAN HELSING), a wealthy man who the Moulin Rouge owner Harold Zidler (Jim Broadbent, IRIS) hopes will turn the dance hall into a legit theater. Through his song of truth, beauty and love, Christian quickly wins the heart of Satine, who must string along The Duke for the benefit of the majority.
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