The Polarizing Gatsby

 

I went to see The Great Gatsby the Thursday night before it came out with my best friend. I have just recently read the book, so it was all fresh in my mind. I'm not too worried about spoilers because I'm assuming everyone has been forced to read GG in an English class at some point or another (if you haven't read it, go do so immediately). There were a lot of aspects of this film that I liked very much. They music was perfect. I fell over in my seat and cried a single tear of pure joy when Rhapsody in Blue started to play during the first party scene and there is that perfect moment of discord in the song when DiCaprio raises his glass of champagne. I thought the mix of twenties and modern music was brilliant, and I guess we have Jay-Z to thank for that. The Lana Del Rey song that was used as a them fit wonderfully with the tone of the movie, and even though I'm not a big fan of hers, I do like "Young and Beautiful". Leonardo DiCaprio, Carey Mulligan, and basically the rest of the casting was pretty much perfect too. My only complain is Tobey Maguire, but I'll save my rant on him for another time. let's just say I think he portrayed a weak version of Nick, when Nick is really just easily convinced. There were a few things Luhrmann did that I thought were corny, which brings me to the title of this post. Baz Luhrmann is a very polarizing director. people either love or hat his movies- there is very little in between. Certain aspects of his style fit in perfectly with Fitzgerald's themes, while somethings were overdone. All of the symbolism that is kind of subtle in the book is straight up in your face in the movie. That made me a little sad because the literary masterpiece had to be dumbed down in order for the general public to grasp the meaning. I also didn't like the overlay of words on the screen, I felt like it could have been more voice-over. The last thing I will complain about was the frame that the story was set in. I don't think it was necessary to have the psychiatrist/psychologist frame, but that's just my humble opinion. Overall, it was visually stunning and it was one of the best adaptations of a book I've ever seen, in terms of staying true to the plot.

4 out of 5 Beautiful Shirts