Saturday 18 October 2014
The Great Gatsby (2013)
If anyone can ever fill up the impossible role of Jay Gatsby, it would be none other than Leonardo DiCaprio. Everything about this movie was perfect to the T. Perhaps I have watched this movie more than I should, but there is almost no scene in history as breathtakingly captivating than the scene where Nick Carraway (Maguire) sees his cousin Daisy (Mulligan) for the first time in the movie; the flowing, wind-beaten cream curtains framed Daisy's ethereal off-white gown ever-so-delicately. It was the perfect modern twist to an old Fitzgerald classic - with rhinestoned, bedazzled costumes specially designed by Prada herself and accompanying soundtracks composed and sung by modern artists with old souls such as Lana Del Rey and Florence + The Machine - The Great Gatsby sweeps its audience off their feet and makes them wish that they lived in the era of glitter, jazz, flapper dresses and swinging parties.
As if the stunningly extravagant parties and pretty dresses were not enough, Baz Luhrnmann's editing of the movie was nothing short of wonderful. With the impeccably selected cast and what might be the best attempt yet to capture the novel in its entirety while still subtly infusing modern visual culture, The Great Gatsby was an epitome of living in the roaring 20s.
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While I will definitely agree that DiCaprio did a good job at portraying Gatsby, I personally had mixed feelings about the film as a whole. It was certainly a unique idea to mix popular visual culture, with a classic 20’s aesthetic - however, I found the final product to be over-worked. I think the film may have been more successful for me if the soundtrack at least stayed true to the time period. I found the modern songs really distracted from the classic story, and didn’t add much in terms of depth or tone. However, this is really just a matter of taste - I think this is just one of those films where you either love it or hate it!
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