Pam Cook

Baz Luhrmann captured my imagination with Strictly Ballroom, a love story set amidst the world of competitive ballroom dancing in Australia. The premise was familiar, practically formulaic, but there was something so wonderfully original about the way the story was told that I must have watched the film 100 times while I was in college. Strictly Ballroom was the first of what has been deemed the Red Curtain Trilogy, followed by Romeo & Juliet and Moulin Rouge!, two other films which take the familiar and make it strange. My interest in these films led me to request this book on Luhrmann as a way to deepen my understanding of this intriguing director.

This book is a comprehensive look at the origin and development of Luhrmann's aesthetic style. Part biography, part analysis, part character study, the book is dense, and best read in chunks. I found myself picking it up once or twice a week as a sort of break from my more traditional fiction reading. Anyone interested in Luhrmann's style or just interested in Film Studies would benefit from reading this.… (mehr)

Pam Cook's review and theories on Baz Luhrmann's films and other work is an interesting introduction to Luhrmann. The book mainly focuses on the visual aspects of the films, exploring and theorizing on color and form, rather than script or characters. This is a fine approach for Luhrmann, who seems most inventive in his rich visuals. Cook does bring interesting context to Luhrmann's films, helping us decode the multi-cultural Australia which centers Luhrmann's work. But she doesn't bring much more depth to her writing on Luhrmann's themes then this contextual placement.

Cook's strongest and most interesting points lay in some of the biographical material about Luhrmann's beginning work and early influences, bringing a fresh perspective to reading his films. Learning, for example, about the Luhrmann's early experimental theater writing and work helps us appreciate the development of his red curtain trilogy.

My only critique of Cook's study is that she stays firmly rooted in the positive, exploring only Luhrmann's strongest qualities. She holds back from any critique of the director's missteps or exploration of the weaknesses that exist in every artist's body of work. Exploring the failures as well as the successes could have made the book richer and the analysis deeper.… (mehr)

Pam Cook's study of Baz Luhrmann's work is very in depth, well researched, and extremely well cited. Cook had unprecendented access to archival material from Luhrmann's production company and gives us a detailed analysis of his style, working practices, and insight into his films to date.

The only critisicm that I have is that I was expecting more biographical background on Luhrmann, but to be fair, this is from a series of works called "World Directors" so it is not neccesarily a biography from the onset.

The level of detail in Luhrmann's films is evident, along with a style that is truly his own, but the way Cook analyzes each film/production from his early stage work to the lastest release Australia is just as thourough. I must say that I am not a Baz Luhrmann fan so to speak, but this book has given me a much greater appreciation for what he has accomplished, and the acclaim that he has received in such a short time.

I would highly recommend this book to film buffs, theater and film students and anyone generally interested in either the Australian film scene, or learning what it takes to break into directing. It shows how Luhrmann walks the fine line between art house film and major big budget studio production, and walks it well. It does credit to the film makers and creative minds in Australia, doing great work that has global appeal while keeping it's national identity.… (mehr)