The Great Gatsby

Review by John Wood

Love him or loathe him (loathe being the odd majority in Australia recently) but Baz Luhrmann is back with his newest extravagant and indulgent film ‘The Great Gatsby’. This movie is pure Luhrmann, but regardless of your stance this is not a bad thing.

The novel, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, of which the film is based on, is often described as the all American classic. With such lofty claims for the source material the film was always going to be a hard sell, however what follows from the opening shot is a surprisingly enjoyable stab at the themes mentioned in the book.

Tobey Maguire plays Nick Carraway, at the end of his tale, reciting to a doctor all the events that led him to where he is now. After a short opening we see the toll that this tale has to the man and he is led to write the story down. It is here when the major gripe started to rise. It feels like Baz Luhrmann’s previous film ‘Moulin Rouge’, here we had a writer, narrating his story of a young man untouched by the cruel facts of life and meets someone that will change him forever. Now I know ‘Moulin Rouge’ is the thief, if we are discussing what story came first, however Baz’s insistence on thematically and stylistically having this same naïve character who has never truly gotten drunk before leading to a crazy party is unoriginal from him now. Surely someone must have pointed out these familiarities? But no, the ensuing 2 hours follows almost beat for beat many of the high points of the other film.

With that being said being compared to what can be argued as his best work is much better than a comparison to ‘Australia’, especially when he is complimenting his previous fantastic style. The first party scene that happens almost 30 or so minutes into the film is visually arresting, and the modern music actually compliments more than taking the audience out of the world. Here was some lavish partying that immediately makes the audience jealous they weren’t there (even more impressive in 3D believe it or not), it elicited the emotions that ran through people when seeing the big opening numbers at ‘Moulin Rouge’ (last comparison to that film, promise!).

Outside of all the visual flair found in the parties are the main actors, Carey Mulligan as Daisy, an impressive Joel Edgerton as Tom Buchanan and Gatsby himself Leonardo Dicaprio doing all they can to keep the story of lost love and wealth moving along when the lavishness no longer stands for itself. For the most part they succeed, all the characters get to recite some amazing dialogue ripped straight from the book with brilliant timing and emotion. However the favourite was newcomer Elizabeth Debicki as Jordan Baker who really lights up her scenes with natural style and flair, a true woman transported from the 1920’s world and implanted in this film.

The film falters by its inability to pace, something that may not have been helped considering the need to be faithful, but after a while the high octane fast cuts of parties and beautiful locale, get bogged down by moments of slow build-up that never really feels to go anywhere, there is many times when the actors are just looking at each other. While the director was clearly trying to show these characters unable to express what they wanted, it seemed simply unnecessary after the third or fourth time.

Also the film incorporates a lot of CG, due to the filming taking place mainly in soundstages and it is never quite polished enough, most of the world just seems flat or fake and it gets hard to soak up the world when this is the case. Another point on the technical side is the editing, one scene has Gatsby driving with Nick at high speeds while having a discussion with him, but many of the shots show Leo saying nothing, it looked bizarre and showed just how slapped together some of the scenes were.

The film is quite simply a mixed bag. It is no way as bad as you might expect, but on the other side it is nowhere near as dazzling as one would hope. The man may say he is great, but I wouldn’t go that far.

3/5