AustLit

Despite the media's constant interest and close attention to Baz Luhrmann's exotic films one important side of his cinematic achievements remains untouched by critics, namely -- the director's conceptual basis and philosophical framework. The neglect of these two matters creates a drama and arouses anger in critics and viewers who try to apply standard rules to his films, judging and reviewing them within the framework of genre categories. Luhrmann's films, however, do not belong to any particular category, although the elements of various genres can be found in them. Some of the elements are better elaborated than others, which makes critics define the niche in which his next film should be considered. The frustration starts right after the assumption about the genre is made since Luhrmann is not a director who is concerned with film categories. I postulate that he should be judged based on 'director categories,' i.e., as a phenomenon, not an artisan.