"The Great Gatsby"
THERE ARE SPOILERS THROUGHOUT THIS REVIEW
(Hopefully you have read the book- if not, you should because it's awesome!)
F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel is one of my all time favorite books. It is probably the only book I read cover to cover in high school. On top of that, Baz Luhrmann ("Romeo+Juliet" 1996 (also with Leo DiCaprio), "Moulin Rouge" 2001) is one of my all time favorite directors. So it was hard to be objective going into this movie.
My last post was on "Beautiful Creatures" (2012), and I talked about how a great movie that is based on a book makes you want to read the book. Well, this movie is even better than the book. In my history of movie-watching (my whole 21 years of living), I have never seen a movie that outshone its book. Until now.
If you were not forced to read the novel in high school- you have missed out first of all, and you really should read it- but I will tell you what happens.
Nick Carraway (Tobey Maguire) comes to New York hoping to have a quiet summer to learn about his new trade, bonds. But instead he gets sucked into the ecstasy around him. His cousin, Daisy Buchanan (Carey Mulligan), lives right across the lake from him. He visits her and her husband, Tom, (Joel Edgerton) and her best friend, Jordan Baker (Elizabeth Debicki). Nick lives next to a grand castle. Its master never introduces himself but he is known as Jay Gatsby (Leonardo DiCaprio).
Gatsby holds these fabulous parties every weekend including dancers, singers, performers, famous actors, senators, and all the most important people. But no one knows anything about him- just the rumors that have spread.
At the Buchanan residence, Tom is cheating on his wife with Myrtle Wilson (Isla Fisher), wife of a mechanic named George Wilson (Jason Clarke).
In this tale of romance, betrayal, secrets, and tons of alcoholic consumption, Nick learns the truth about Gatsby and the truth about the world around him.
The Cast
I was skeptical about having DiCaprio be Gatsby. I had always pictured Gatsby as this white-haired gentleman with a distant personality. But DiCaprio is able to bring the character right off the page and into a whole other understanding. All of the actors are. This book is mostly Nick's inner monologue so we don't get to see into the souls of any of the other characters. And Gatsby's is probably the hardest to understand. He is a man madly in love. To the point where he is obsessed with this vision of how he wants his life to be and how he wants his Daisy to be.
Nick is also able to be brought to life in this film. The film starts with Nick at a mental hospital after the events of his youth. Maguire shows how distraught the story of Gatsby has made him. He is transformed from our loyal narrator to the hero of our story, trying to figure out his past and how to move forward.
Mulligan also does an excellent job giving breath to the character of Daisy. She is also a character that is not 100% relatable. I still don't agree with her motives, but due to Mulligan's portrayal I finally understand that she never wanted to be moral or in love, she just wanted to be told what to do for the rest of her life. And get lots of money out of it. I always knew she was a gold digger, but now I can understand why.
The Message
Can you repeat the past? Or have people changed too much to be able to live how you always wanted to?
And what makes a man? Is it his money? How beautiful is wife is? What school he went to? Or how honest he is?
I have always been deeply in love with Gatsby. He is unfailingly loyal to a woman who does not deserve him. He is the hopeless romantic. He is like a child in so many ways- he gets nervous around Daisy; he is wary to trust someone new, but when he does trust them he will always tell them the truth. He is not perfect. He's an extreme perfectionist, so much so that he does not run away with Daisy to be with her. He wants his life just the way he has planned it, in a big house with every luxury and his beautiful wife Daisy. He continually says that he was "married" to Daisy the minute he kissed her. But I think he was in love with the idea of how his life would be with Daisy, not Daisy herself. In the end, his obsession and Daisy's cowardice kills him.
The story has many more themes running through it- nouveau rich vs. old money, the idea that someone (God or human) is always watching, the power of gossip, class issues, and much more. But the main, and to me the most important message, is you are defined by how you treat other people. Tom may own a beautiful house and have a beautiful wife but he still cheats on his wife who he never really loved and he indirectly kills Gatsby. He only cares about himself. Nick is not very wealthy, but he never reveals Tom's secret. He is also the only one to show up to Gatsby's funeral. He is able to forgive his faults, unlike everyone else. At the end of the day, Gatsby may have been crazy, but he would never hurt anyone. He could have had Tom taken care of many times to solve all of his problems, but he never does. He is truly a good man.
There are always days in my life where I wish I could go back in time. I wish I could relive a moment or even a year knowing what I know now. But you cannot repeat the past. People are always changing. Time is a necessary part of life so that we can learn to let go and move on. But Gatsby can never let go (Ha! That must be a DiCaprio theme!- see "Titanic"). He is forever bound to this woman who is too afraid to love him. It is a beautifully tragic love story.
The best thing about Luhrmann is that he is able to transport you into his fantastical and extravagant world. The costumes are perfectly retro and modern at the same time. The sets are intricately designed to a tee- everything is done for a reason. I described the camera work and the staging of the film like dancing. Everything flows in movement to some unheard song, stringing every movement of the actors and of the camera together. The soundtrack stays with you for days after watching the movie (I HAD to buy the whole soundtrack the very next day). That is Luhrmann's style. He is a go big or go home kind of guy but not at the expense of a single detail.
What I loved most about this movie was how true it was to the classic book. The film uses the beautifully written words of Fitzgerald not only in the script but also by scribbling them on the screen, giving full credit to how well written the novel is. Most books-turned-movies just take the story and a few key lines from the author. But "Gatsby" treats those words as sacred windows into the story and the characters.
Overall
I have been working on this blog for days now. Not necessarily because I haven't been able to write, but because I couldn't find anything wrong with this movie. One could argue that it is too long. But if we are being fair to the work it is based on, the movie needs to be that long. You have sat through 3 hours of Lord of the Rings: "Return of the King." I promise you can do 2 and a half hours of Gatsby.
I have been recommending this movie to everyone. It is 100% worth seeing even if you are unfortunate enough not to have read the book. Seeing it in 3D is pretty cool too. There are several shots that sweep down the length of a skyscraper which are awesome to ride. But it's Baz. His world is spectacular enough that you don't need to spend the extra money. You just need to see the movie.
