The Great Gatsby
Isla Fisher, and Jason Clarke
Discard any literary pretensions you may have regarding F.
Scott Fitzgerald’s novel
about the decadence of the 1920’s jazz age in
Most of you have read the novel about Jay Gatsby, enigmatic
rags to riches millionaire
who throws ultra lavish parties which he never attends at
his grandiose mansion in East Egg Long Island.
His entertainments with legions of glitzy flapper girls, dozens of
tuxedoed help and gallons of bootleg booze are the talk of New York.
Jay Gatsby(Leonardo DiCaprio) has built his manor smack across the Long
Island Sound from blueblood Tom(Joel Edgerton) Buchanan and his wife
Daisy’s(Carey Mulligan) own mansion.
Gatsby is obsessed with Daisy, with whom he had a fling before she and
Tom married.
Gatsby recruits his neighbor Nick Carraway(Tobey Maguire) to
help him win back Daisy’s affections..
It is Nick who narrates the story.
Nick is also pursuing the American Dream.
The theme is nothing new: a girl is attracted to a boy from the wrong side of the tracks, but she marries the one with the money. The poor boy makes good and tries to woo her back. It doesn’t always work.
Leonardo DiCaprio embraces the complexity and mystery of Jay
Gatsby. His handsome
good looks got gasps from the audience with whom I viewed
the film. Including me.
Carry Mulligan is perfect as the insubstantial, listless,
pampered Daisy who wants it both ways.Joel Edgerton is superb as the philandering, buffoonish Tom. Tobey Maguire is excellent as the wide eyed innocent foil to DiCaprio’s sophistication.
Baz Luhrman’s Gatsby is homage as well as a blistering
critique of the excesses of
Materialism. The
shimmering gowns and jewels, the high kicking sequined flappers,the flowers by the truckload, the perfectly cut suits, the garish settings, the gleaming
vehicles are a resplendent, but also vulgar feast for the eyes. This Flashy Gatsby
captures the shallowness of that milieu. It’s a delicious bon bon, not much substance, but oh so tasty.