Baz Luhrmann

Considered one of the most innovative filmmakers working at the turn of the 21st Century, Australian Baz Luhrmann earned that title after having completed only three of his unmistakably stylized, visual gems. Luhrmann found equal measures of detractors and champions for "Strictly Ballroom" (1992), "William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet" (1996) and "Moulin Rouge!" (2001), all of which adhered to a specific style developed by Luhrmann and his collaborators that he dubbed "the Red Curtain." His films relied on straightforward plots, but the world he created was one of heightened reality - visually rich with devices like dance, iambic pentameter or characters bursting out in song to drive the story. As Luhrmann grew more secure in his position as director and as his budgets increased with each picture, his camera and editing merged into a sort of helter-skelter, hellzapoppin' style that blended the emotional and p tic in new and revolutionary ways.