Reviewed by Patrick Gibbs
GRADE: A+
Screenplay by Baz Luhrman and Craig Pearce
Directed by Baz Luhrman
The works of F. Scott Fitzgerald hardly seem like prime fare for 3D summer blockbusters - it almost seems like something you'd see on The Simpsons. It is, to say the least, unusual. But so is Baz Luhrman.
The man responsible for a hyper active Romeo+Juliet set in "Verona Beach" and dancing waiters singing "Like A Virgin" in Moulin Rouge! may not be everyone's cup of tea, but love him or hate him, you have to acknowledge his unique vision. When the song "My Way" was written, it might as well have been dedicated to Baz.
Nick Carraway (Tobey Maguire), a Yale graduate and WW I veteran, is a depressed and disillusioned alcoholic staying in a sanatorium for treatment. When he struggles to articulate his thoughts, his doctor suggests writing it down, since writing is what brings him solace.
We flashback to the summer of 1922, where Nick moves to New York, where he takes a job as a bond salesman. He rents a small house on Long Island in the (fictional) village of West Egg, next door to the lavish mansion of Jay Gatsby (Leonardo DiCaprio), a mysterious business magnate who holds extravagant parties. Nick drives across the bay to East Egg for dinner at the home of his cousin, Daisy Buchanan (Carey Mulligan), and her husband, Tom (Joel Edgerton), a college acquaintance of Nick's, who is more than a bit of a cad and makes no secret to Nick that he has a mistress (played wonderfully by Isla Fisher.)..
As the summer progresses, Nick receives an invitation to one of Gatsby’s parties. Upon arriving, he learns that none of the guests at the party, though there are hundreds, have ever met Gatsby himself, and they have developed multiple theories as to who he is. Nick meets Gatsby, who is surprisingly young and rather aloof, in person. Gatsby seems to take a liking to Nick and the two become mutual friends. Nick later learns that Gatsby knew Daisy from a romantic encounter in 1917, and is still madly in love with her. He spends many nights staring at the green light at the end of her dock, across the bay from his mansion, hoping to one day rekindle their lost romance. Gatsby’s extravagant lifestyle and wild parties are an attempt to impress Daisy in the hopes that she will one day appear at Gatsby's doorstep. Gatsby now wants Nick to arrange a reunion between himself and Daisy. Nick invites Daisy to have tea at his house, without telling her that Gatsby will be there also.
If you've read the book, you know where things fo from here, and if you haven't, I'm not going to spoil anything. Suffice it to say, with both Fitzgerald and Luhrman, it's at least a much about the lourney as the destination. Luhrman's sumptuous visual style mixes perfectly with Fitzgerald's lyrical writing style, and it's a match made in heaven. The use of modern music, ranging from hip hop to a remix of U2's "Love Is Blindness" is used to great effect; Luhrman wishes to capture the decadence of the Jazz age and by mixing modern elements makes it feel edgy and exciting in the way it was then, rather than the cleaned up, seemingly stodgy portrayal that comes in most modern portrayals. This also applies to the 3D, which is used to great and often genuinely beautiful effect, and we experience the excitement of the era in a way that I would argue captures the feeling much better than a more literalist take ever could hope to portray.
The performances are strong all around, with Mulligan shining brightly as Daisy and making it easy to see what it is that captivates Gatsby. But the triumph here is DiCaprio, and his portrayal of the classic character is nothing short of definitive, and should be remebered at Oscar time (a much better use of the great young actor than we've seen in recent years.).
The other advantage of the 3D is that it forces Luhrman to hold back just a little on the more frenetic elements of his visual style, and this may be his most successful over all film. This is not a movie for everyone, but I found it to be genuine work of art and believe it will stand as one of the summer's very best.
The Great Gatsby is Rated PG-13 for violence, language, and sensuality.
No comments:
Post a Comment