Today I finally watched the latest adaptation of The Great Gatsby, directed by Baz Luhrmann.
I watched it in 3D, and it was spectacular! The movie didn't rely on the 3D effects to carry it - it all fell upon the tragically beautiful novel that F. Scott Fitzgerald concocted so many moons ago. ...The sprinkles of water, the green light beams and the screen protruding typewriter letters that flew your way were simply bonuses that added an extra 'oomph' to the movie. (Don't get me wrong - the visual effects were utterly discerning!)
What intrigued me first and foremost was the mixture of the periodic authenticity and the inclusion of elements of today, most noticeably in the soundtrack, including the likes of Kanye West, Emeli Sandé, and Jay Z to add to Jay G's story... highly influenced by one of the executive producers, none other than Shawn 'Jay Z' Carter, no doubt. And it worked. It most definitely worked. I couldn't help but think that an older generation would feel slightly betrayed by the use of mainstream music to counteract the 'Jazz Age', but it didn't counteract at all: if anything, it complemented.
The casting of the movie was nothing short of impeccable in my opinion.
True to the book, opening the story was our trusty, "judgement free" Nick Carraway, portrayed so eloquently by Tobey Maguire.
Without wanting to reveal too much, the interpretation of the "audience" that Nick addresses is clever. It's believable. It's fulfilling. It's another level to the story that Fitzgerald didn't ever specify, but I'm assuming the screen writers sculpted to perfection to execute.
Maguire portrays all the elements of Nick so well - he grasps his anger, his judgement and his content so deeply just by movement of his eyebrows or a simple intonation of his voice.
Leonardo DiCaprio deserves an Oscar already! He takes on the role of Gatsby with such believable confidence that the image I first had of Gatsby when I read the book might forever be replaced with Leo's face.
Carey Mulligan's acting was full of money (a quote that was missed out), creating a newly sculpted version that could probably give Mia Farrow a run for HER money. Joel Edgerton was the perfect brute for Daisy as Tom, Elizabeth Debicki created the most mysterious and intriguing Jordan, and Isla Fisher was a heart wrenching, pity-pulling Myrtle that I thoroughly enjoyed.
The downside for me, was the lack of reference to the Nick/Jordan relationship: a couple, I felt, paralleled Daisy and Tom in the fact that both were very much real and not careless... 'Angry, and half in love with her, and tremendously sorry, I turned away.'
I also wanted so much for the characters to say more quotes -
'So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.'
'It takes two to make an accident,'
'If personality is an unbroken series of successful gestures, then there was something gorgeous about him.'
But, to conclude, just like Gatsby, the movie was clinquant.
L.
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