The Great Gatsby
Year: 2013
Director: Baz Luhrmann
Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Joel Edgerton, Tobey Maguire & Carey Mulligan
Runtime: 143 mins
BBFC: 12
Published: 15/07/20
Director: Baz Luhrmann
Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Joel Edgerton, Tobey Maguire & Carey Mulligan
Runtime: 143 mins
BBFC: 12
Published: 15/07/20
I have a very strange relationship with Baz Luhrmann films. 1996’s Romeo + Juliet for example I feel is a hot mess of great ideas and poor execution to the point where it makes the Shakespearian script that it has lifted, word for word, from the play into somewhat of a farce. Whereas 2001’s Moulin Rouge I feel is an excellent film for those exact same reasons (minus the Shakespearian script) where the eccentric and overdramatised elements create this farce that is wholly delightful yet still emotionally resonant.
So, I had my apprehensions when approaching 2013’s The Great Gatsby. The 1925 F. Scott Fitzgerald novel is a deeply serious tale that though certainly revels in its extravagance, never loses sight of its deeply depressing and tragic narrative. Could Luhrmann put aside his need to turn everything into a campy farce for one film? Because if so then he could well be the perfect director for a Great Gatsby adaptation. Unfortunately, he doesn’t quite manage it.
It’s the early 1920’s and Nick Carraway moves to West Egg near New York City. There he spends time with his cousin, Daisy Buchannan and her husband Tom whom live on the shore opposite him in East Egg. Tom and Carraway spent much time together at first and Tom’s infidelities are eventually revealed to Carraway who promises to keep it a secret from Daisy. He also hears much talk of a man named Gatsby who throws weekly parties which it seems like everyone in New York, rich or poor, attends without invitation. Carraway is the sole invitee to one of Gatsby’s parties and there he familiarises himself with the man, the myth, the enigma that is Jay Gatsby; a young man who comes from unimaginable wealth and has done more or less anything you can think of. Gatsby asks a favour of Carraway and seeks an audience with Daisy, whom it is revealed is a former flame of his that he hopes to reunite with and recapture their love despite her now being married.
When their first meeting is a success Carraway becomes embroiled in another affair to be the secret keeper of. But as Tom & Gatsby meet more frequently and their tempers with each other grow thin matters spiral out of control and end in tragedy.
So, I had my apprehensions when approaching 2013’s The Great Gatsby. The 1925 F. Scott Fitzgerald novel is a deeply serious tale that though certainly revels in its extravagance, never loses sight of its deeply depressing and tragic narrative. Could Luhrmann put aside his need to turn everything into a campy farce for one film? Because if so then he could well be the perfect director for a Great Gatsby adaptation. Unfortunately, he doesn’t quite manage it.
It’s the early 1920’s and Nick Carraway moves to West Egg near New York City. There he spends time with his cousin, Daisy Buchannan and her husband Tom whom live on the shore opposite him in East Egg. Tom and Carraway spent much time together at first and Tom’s infidelities are eventually revealed to Carraway who promises to keep it a secret from Daisy. He also hears much talk of a man named Gatsby who throws weekly parties which it seems like everyone in New York, rich or poor, attends without invitation. Carraway is the sole invitee to one of Gatsby’s parties and there he familiarises himself with the man, the myth, the enigma that is Jay Gatsby; a young man who comes from unimaginable wealth and has done more or less anything you can think of. Gatsby asks a favour of Carraway and seeks an audience with Daisy, whom it is revealed is a former flame of his that he hopes to reunite with and recapture their love despite her now being married.
When their first meeting is a success Carraway becomes embroiled in another affair to be the secret keeper of. But as Tom & Gatsby meet more frequently and their tempers with each other grow thin matters spiral out of control and end in tragedy.
Narratively, The Great Gatsby is fantastic. It’s paced very well, and the characters are given plenty of depth and screen time. It’s a faithful adaptation in so far as the story we see on screen is the same as that of the book. But unfortunately, much like Romeo + Juliet, the tone is completely off thanks to poor presentation choices that I’ll touch on more later. Tobey Maguire is fantastic as Carraway, arguably better than DiCaprio as Gatsby because he has this innocence to him. He is seeing this world of extravagance for the first time just like us, and unlike the other characters in the film he is not yet tainted by it. Joel Edgerton is excellent as Tom and is arguably the scene stealer whenever he is around. You truly despise the character because of how great his performance is.
As I touched on earlier, the biggest misfire in the film is that the tone is way off. The Great Gatsby is clearly a tragedy but very little of the film exudes this tragic nature. It’s all flashy special effects and Jay-Z music for some reason. Much of the film was clearly filmed on a green screen because the environments just simply do not look real most of the time. Whilst Luhrmann certainly does visual spectacle well, it’s out of place in The Great Gatsby because it is a film that does not require visual spectacle in the form of a green screen.
I think my biggest issue with The Great Gatsby though comes in its sound. Luhrmann for whatever reason chooses to have Jay-Z songs for many of the big eccentric moments of the film, but considering the film is set in the 1920’s it completely pulls you out of the experience. I'm not saying Jay-Z's music is bad, but I'm saying that The Great Gatsby is entirely the wrong kind of film to have his music as the soundtrack. It was this kind of tomfoolery that put me off Romeo + Juliet but where that was a modern take on the story, Gatsby is much more settled in its chosen time period so the inclusion of music not from that era, and music that doesn’t even fit the tone of that era, is just baffling.
Some of the more ‘dramatic’ scenes also come across as melodramatic, another issue I also took with Romeo + Juliet. At many points I found myself laughing at the situation in Gatsby rather than being engaged with the emotions displayed on screen because the acting suddenly became akin to parody rather than simply passionate.
The Great Gatsby is certainly one of Luhrmann’s better films. The acting is overall pretty great, and the story is good. But it is the disconnect between the serious and tragic nature of the tale, and the modern soundtrack with near parody level melodrama in Luhrmann’s signature quick cut fashion that makes the film miss the mark. Overall I’d say it’s a good film, but it’s got its problems and all of them are ones Luhrmann is notorious for doing time and again in all of his films.
As I touched on earlier, the biggest misfire in the film is that the tone is way off. The Great Gatsby is clearly a tragedy but very little of the film exudes this tragic nature. It’s all flashy special effects and Jay-Z music for some reason. Much of the film was clearly filmed on a green screen because the environments just simply do not look real most of the time. Whilst Luhrmann certainly does visual spectacle well, it’s out of place in The Great Gatsby because it is a film that does not require visual spectacle in the form of a green screen.
I think my biggest issue with The Great Gatsby though comes in its sound. Luhrmann for whatever reason chooses to have Jay-Z songs for many of the big eccentric moments of the film, but considering the film is set in the 1920’s it completely pulls you out of the experience. I'm not saying Jay-Z's music is bad, but I'm saying that The Great Gatsby is entirely the wrong kind of film to have his music as the soundtrack. It was this kind of tomfoolery that put me off Romeo + Juliet but where that was a modern take on the story, Gatsby is much more settled in its chosen time period so the inclusion of music not from that era, and music that doesn’t even fit the tone of that era, is just baffling.
Some of the more ‘dramatic’ scenes also come across as melodramatic, another issue I also took with Romeo + Juliet. At many points I found myself laughing at the situation in Gatsby rather than being engaged with the emotions displayed on screen because the acting suddenly became akin to parody rather than simply passionate.
The Great Gatsby is certainly one of Luhrmann’s better films. The acting is overall pretty great, and the story is good. But it is the disconnect between the serious and tragic nature of the tale, and the modern soundtrack with near parody level melodrama in Luhrmann’s signature quick cut fashion that makes the film miss the mark. Overall I’d say it’s a good film, but it’s got its problems and all of them are ones Luhrmann is notorious for doing time and again in all of his films.