The Great Gatsby

 Directed by Baz Luhrman

Based on the novel by F Scott Fitzgerald

 

With Leonardo DiCaprio, Tobey Maguire, Joel Edgerton, Carey Mulligan,
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 New York.  Baz Lurhman’s film The Great Gatsby is a simply spectacular piece of razzle dazzle sight and sound filmmaking that stands mightily on its own.

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.

 

There have been six film versions of The Great Gatsby.  Luhrman’s film is a glittery showcase of the early 1920’s with its bootleg behaviors, frantic flappers, and the frenzied search for more thrills.
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.