Moulin Rouge! musical nominated for Best Picture in 10 years, following Disney's "Beauty and the Beast" (1991). In BBC's 2016 poll of the greatest films since 2000, "Moulin Rouge!" ranked 53rd. In the year 1900, a British writer named Christian (Ewan McGregor), suffering from depression, begins writing on his typewriter ("Nature Boy"). As Christian narrates, the film flashes back to one year earlier upon Christian's move to the Montmartre district of Paris to become a writer among members of the area's Bohemian movement. He soon discovers that his neighbours are a loose troupe of performers led by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (John Leguizamo).
Moulin Rouge! this during the Oscar ceremony, host Whoopi Goldberg remarked, "I guess "Moulin Rouge!" just directed itself." The film won the awards for Best Costume Design and Best Art Direction. "Come What May" (the only original song in the film) was disqualified from nomination for an Oscar because it was originally written (but unused) for Luhrmann's previous film "Romeo + Juliet" and not written expressly for "Moulin Rouge!". "Entertainment Weekly" put it on its end-of-the-decade, "best-of" list, saying, "Baz Luhrmann's trippy pop culture pastiche from 2001 was an aesthetically arresting ode to poetry, passion, and Elton John. It was so good,