Review:
The Great Gatsby
is a lot of flash, and while that makes it entertaining it is not quite enough.
The film is about Nick Carraway, a fresh face new to New York City who is
enchanted by his wealthy mysterious neighbor Jay Gatsby. Carraway decides to
help Gatsby try to win the love of his relation Daisy, who had an intimate
fling with Gatsby before the war (WWI) but lost track of him. In the five years
since, she has married a wealthy man from old money, Tom Buchanan, but does not
seem completely happy. Carraway sees hope in Gatsby, which is important to him
in the wake of a war that left many forever scarred and the world darker. He
needs something to believe in, and for him it is Gatsby.
Going in, director Baz Luhrmann’s The
Great Gatsby was expected to be big, brash, and audacious – one giant party –
exuding the opulence of the roaring twenties. Luhrmann delivers on this
promise. The film is wonderfully colorful, frenetic, and grandiose in its
visual style. The sets and costumes are lavish. The whole thing is a visual
treat. But, this is both its greatest asset and weakness.
Luhrmann captures strong
performances across his cast. Gatsby is an especially compelling character, due
to Leonardo
DiCaprio’s stellar work. Whenever Gatsby is on screen, he draws all the
attention his way, which only seems to make sense given his mystic in the
context of the narrative. Carraway is the other character that the audience is
able to connect with, both as narrator and as voyeur. He is never central to
the action, but he is always around watching – becoming a foil for the
narrative to play off, and therefore an in for the audience.
However, Luhrmann does not seem
as interested in the other characters, and thus the strong performances are
mostly wasted. Even Daisy, who is an important part to the dramatic tension and
arc of the film, is narratively curtailed. He treats them as simple genre
caricatures, using them only to convey the plot or a sense of the times – Daisy
is nothing but a trapped delicate flower, Tom is just a brutish villain, and
Gatsby is the tragic hero, nothing more. Thus, scenes not featuring Gatsby
often feel a bit overlong, because the characters are not as interesting
(probably the best example is the scene in which Buchanan takes Carraway to his
mistress’s flat – the scene is painfully inefficient in its storytelling). Carraway
is merely the method by which the audience is introduced to the world, but from
there the narrative revolves around Gatsby. Yet, Luhrmann takes too much time
to get to Gatsby.
The film overall suffers from
being too long for the same reason. Luhrmann is far more interested in the
visual spectacle than the dramatic narrative, which is fine but diminishing the
characters and drama should be subdued by structuring a tight narrative that
moves briskly and efficiently. This helps avoid lulls in the pacing caused by
boring scenes with otherwise uninteresting characters.
There is a disconnection between
the characters and the audience. Luhrman has created a superficial world in
which things are there purely for their splendor, but void of real meaning. Thus,
when the audience is presented with characters, connecting to them is difficult
because they too seem to be all part of the show and not real people worth an
emotional investment (though, DiCaprio’s performance is strong enough to draw
them in a bit). As the narrative progresses, it starts to become more about the
characters and their drama (Gatsby’s relationship with Daisy), but by then it
is too late. Luhrmann has already lost the audience, and the film starts to
feel even slower. The film is built on spectacle, so when the drama starts to
replaces it in the second half it lands with a thud.
Luhrmann’s narrative set up for
Carraway also feels very odd (and pointless). He is not just the narrator, but
a psychiatric patient who is retelling his story about the summer he spent with
Gatsby by writing it down as a way of working through his issues – as he is now
a broken man in the wake of the tragedy. It is as if Luhrmann needed a visual
way to explain to the audience why Carraway is the narrator (given that his character
is fairly thin in the film). And, by having him write the story down, Luhrmann
could have famous passages from the literature appear on the screen – which feels
very cheap and further separates the audience from the characters. On top of
this choice seeming not to serve any good purpose, it also drags the narrative’s
pacing down, as these scenes are essentially meaningless to the audience
because Carraway is not given any true dramatic moments. This is just another
example of Luhrmann’s inefficiency as a storyteller.
However, despite these issues,
the film is rather entertaining too. Luhrmann’s visuals are often quite
engaging and his use of music works surprisingly well. While everything is
designed to looks more or less period (though maybe a bit exaggerated), the
film feels very modern at the same time (and all the period stuff ends up
feeling like a big costume party). This is due to Luhrmann’s frantic editing
and camera and his use of modern hip hop and pop music to highlight the
soundtrack. The whole visual experience is very noisy with a lot going on, but
it works creating a fun frivolous experience.
The Great Gatsby is not
emotionally engaging. It does not have well developed characters. But, that is
not Luhrmann’s intention – or at least it does not seem to be. It is grand
display of decadence (which plays well against today’s social strife regarding
the widening gap between classes in America) and a visual foray into exuberant
costume and set design. Luhrmann wants to create an entertaining visual
experience, and to that degree the film is a great success.
Technical,
aesthetic & acting achievements: Baz Luhrmann is well known for his
visual eye, his ability to mix modern music with period settings, and his
handling of tragic romance (his most famous prior films are Romeo + Juliet and Moulin Rogue! – for which The
Great Gatsby fits the same mold). However, again, he squanders the potential of
rich characters (from Fitzgerald’s source material) in favor of showy
superficial art. This is not a good adaptation of The Great Gatsby, just as his
Romeo + Juliet is a gaudy and inelegant treatment of Shakespeare’s work. And
yet, it is probably Luhrmann’s most entertaining film (and certainly my
favorite). He never meant it to be a true adaptation (and really, films and the
books they are based on are two completely different things that should be
taken as such – comparisons are more or less pointless – rather each should be
looked at on their own merits, completely separate), but rather a story for him
to build a visual spectacle of the 1920s on.
The music in the film sets the
tone well, but never has an emotional impact. Thus, it is fair to say that Craig Armstrong’s score is
unsuccessful. Additionally, it is completely overshadowed by Shawn Carter’s (Jay-Z)
soundtrack that he put together for the film. Luhrmann’s best moments come when
he blends Carter’s soundtrack with his vibrant visuals (which is why the trailer for
the film is so fantastic). Simon
Duggan’s cinematography is beautiful and mesmerizing. Along with Catherine Martin’s production
design, it gives Luhrmann’s world such a tremendous polish and allure. Martin’s
design is probably the film’s best attribute. Everything looks fantastic, given
Luhrmann’s vision.
As said in the review, the performances
are good throughout despite the weak characters. Amitabh Bachchan and Joel Edgerton are both good in
support (undeterred by playing caricatures). Newcomer Elizabeth Debicki is brilliant
in the film playing Jordan Baker (a friend of Daisy’s). Again, she is not given
much character wise, but brings a lot of energy to her performance and steals
almost every scene she is in. Carey
Mulligan is good as Daisy – she plays a woman trapped in a bad marriage who
longs for her great lost love. Mulligan’s Daisy is naïve and innocent, but it
works in the context of Luhrmann’s narrative. Tobey Maguire is good at playing
someone who is both within and without, which seems to perfectly fit Nick
Carraway. He is in the middle of all the action in the film but never central
to it, making him a good observer. Leonardo DiCaprio almost saves this film, or
to say it another way he almost elevates this film from being purely a visual
feast to something that actually dramatically resonates. His performance is the
best part of the film. He actually tries to bring humanity and complication to
Gatsby, who Luhrmann casts as being merely the tragic hero – when there is so
much more to him.
Summary
& score: Come for The Great Gatsby’s flashy style, narcotic visuals,
and broad dramatic strokes, but do not expect anything deeper. 6/10
