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Title: It was a fine affair but now it's over...
Review: I saw Cabaret after seeing the recent film version of Chicago, and though I expected another lavish Fosse fantasy, what I saw was a very different film altogether. Chicago is a glamorous, glorified portrait of decadence without consequence, but Cabaret reveals the garish, disappointing underside of it all. The girls, the costumes, even the orchestra is not exactly beautiful. But they are honest. This divine decadence is literally all smoke and mirrors, it is all gaudy makeup over a dirty and desperate Germany in 1931.While I'm not a huge fan of Liza Minnelli, she is perfect as wild child Sally Bowles. Michael York is equally wonderful as the innocent and effeminate Brian Roberts. I kind of wished that the film explored the ambiguous sexuality of the characters more than it did, but given the time the film was released, it is remarkable that the film has the frankness that it does.
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