Berlin is just on the grips of rising Nazism, and young
English journalist, Brian, has just come into the middle of it all. Upon
arriving at his lodgings, he meets the wide-eyed and charming Sally Bowles, a
talented singer working at a cabaret known as the Kit Kat Club, and the two
spark up a friendship that soon turns into an ill-fated romance.
Willkommen, bienvenue, welcome im cabaret,
au cabaret, to cabaret!
The only really
great musical to come out of the 1970s, the film scooped up a whopping 8
Academy Awards including Best Picture and director Bob Fosse pipped Frances
Ford Coppola as Best Director over The Godfather! The songs, the performances, and the radiance and life that it
exudes, Cabaret is a fantastic movie
that is balanced with everything: romance, comedy, music, drama, politics, and
even violence. I love it, I really LOVE it!
Berlin is just on the grips of
rising Nazism, and young English journalist, Brian, has just come into the
middle of it all. Upon arriving at his lodgings, he meets the wide-eyed and
charming Sally Bowles, a talented singer working at a cabaret known as the Kit
Kat Club, and the two spark up a friendship that soon turns into an ill-fated
romance.
What I particularly like about this movie is the way in which the
musical aspect of it is used. Most, if not all, musicals have the song and
dance sequences randomly slot in and they keep the story moving forward, but in
Cabaret the musical sequences are all
done in the Kit Kat Club and they mirror the emotional and political dramas that
are taking place in the outside world. The script, lyrics, and screenplay are
very clever in that sense, and that parallel technique is something that has
been recurring ever since; case in point, Pan’s Labyrinth and even Chicago.
Without a doubt, the real star of the show is Liza Minnelli who picked up the
Academy Award for Best Actress for her role as Sally Bowles. Not only does she
dazzle the audience with her powerful and full voice, singing signature tunes
such as Mein Heir and Life is a Cabaret, she delivers a most irresistible performance
that was charming, coated in nervous energy, comedic, and then rather dramatic
when required. I love Liza Minnelli!
I also too have to give Joel Grey a
special mention because he is just so
gorgeous! Playing the role of the Master of Ceremonies at the Kit Kat Club,
we never get to see him as a character offstage as it were, but on the stage he
provides the film with its comic relief, its sexual indulgence, and its
political cynicism.
Starring Michael York, Helmut Griem, Fritz Wepper, and Maris
Berenson, Cabaret is a fantastic film
that’s filled with glamour, sleaze, drama, music, comedy, politics, and romance.
It’s not an overly decadent musical either, which is something to be applauded,
and I just love it, love it LOVE IT!
What good is sitting alone in your room? Come here the music play. Life is a cabaret old chum. So come to the cabaret!
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