“The Great Gatsby” far exceeded my expectations.
To be clear, I never read the book and no, I don’t know how I missed that in high school. The point is this: I can’t make any comparisons between the book and movie.
The film follows Nick Caraway as he spends the summer of 1922 becoming entranced and sickened by New York culture. While in New York, he meets Jay Gatsby, played by Leonardo DiCaprio, and gets thrown into Gatsby’s personal mess. The film is essentially Nick’s narration of Gatsby’s pursuit of Daisy, who lives directly across the bay from him.
The movie is directed by Baz Luhrmann, who can be rather hit or miss. His past directing endeavors include “Australia,” “Moulin Rouge” and “Romeo + Juliet.” “Romeo + Juliet” was a complete disaster in its attempt to combine Shakespearean language and a 90s setting. Also, a plus sign is not punctuation. However, “Australia” and “Moulin Rouge” are beautiful, sweeping and heartbreaking love stories. “The Great Gatsby” follows in this strain.
That being said, Luhrmann’s particular style can take some getting used to. The beginnings of his films have a high-octane, sped-up sort of quality to them, as if he doesn’t want to take too long setting up the premise of the movie. Then he settles into the main meat of the film and takes his time with it. As I’ve seen all three of the aforementioned films above, I knew to expect this. So, be prepared.
Besides the director’s style quirks, the heart of the movie is a touching one and the material used certainly fits the scale of the film. The biggest misstep for the film was the rap music used for the soundtrack in the first half. It may have been meant as some sort of statement about how the story still applies to those of us living in the 21st century, but there’s no need to injure the realism of your film for the sake of modernity.
As far as the performances of the actors go, there isn’t much to complain about. Leonardo DiCaprio, who I would have only described as decent before this film, is actually quite good as Jay Gatsby, although there’s far too much “Old sport” crammed into the script. Tobey Maguire also delivers a solid performance as Nick Carraway. In fact, all the performances are done well. I have no new favorite actor, but I’m not in the least disappointed by any of the actors in the cast, which, for me, is saying something.
The whole film is done with style. It’s a charming film. More than that, it’s haunting, which is what all great films really should be. The theme of this movie – love – and the images that go with it, have ever so slightly made a change in me. And that’s what movies and books and songs are for, to give us some deeper understanding of our own humanity and what it can do. This film was able to do that for me.
Well, I’m off to read the book
