The book was revived during the WW2 and became literary classic and compulsory curriculum in many school. Unfortunately Fitzgerald died before witnessing his grand successes, believing himself to be a failure.
Set in the summer of 1992, the book follows lives of prosperous residents of fictional West Egg on Long Island, focusing on young millionaire Jay Gatsby and his love for beautiful Daisy Buchanan.
Through his characters, Fitzgerald captures twenties in their true light, the era known for unprecedented economic prosperity, the evolution of jazz music, flapper culture and many criminal activities, in particular alcohol sales.
In 2013, The Great Gatsby, in 3D screen offers Baz Luhrman's vision of this literary masterpiece.
Lavish, over the top, colorful, loud like other Luhrman's work. The film left deep impression on me however there was a distinct lack of emotional impact.
Like the original book, Luhrman's screenplays relies on the narrator Nicholas "Nick" Carraway, played by Toby Maguire to tell the story of Gatsby and his love for Dasy.
Luhrman altered narrator's life slightly by putting Nick in the mental institution in which he writes the story over period of one sleepless night.
Directors often rely on voice overs when telling a story, however Nick's narration works against the Luhrman's vision. Maguire's monotonous, boy pitched voice provides story and sense of time set up but personally I found it distracting and at times annoying, especially when words were also "printed" on the screen.
Unlike Fitzgerald's book, Luhrman's film failed to give us a sense of society of 1920, with some brief references to racial issues and alcohol sales during this time.
His casting choice of Leonardo Di Caprio in the role of Gatsby is perfect. This is one of Caprio's best roles, capturing perfectly ruthless yet behind the scenes very vulnerable man.
The film failed in engaging us emotionally on many levels. There are many characters but I felt a bit lost, as I looked from one character to another, all of them undoubtedly very interesting and complex, yet only posters on the screen.
The characters of Gatsby, Dasy, played by beautiful Carey Mulligan, Tom played by Joel Edgerton are like the amazing set design by Catherine Martin , lavish, living in their own worlds, leaving us observing them but not allowing us to get closer to them.
While reading a book we are left to our imagination to construct the world of Great Gatsby while the movie creates this world for us-the world of unscrupulous rich people who do not really care about anything or anyone except money and power.
The Great Gatsby is not masterpiece but it is unique filmmaker's vision of classic such as Great Gatsby.
Luhrman's style is not everyone' s favorite but his gift and unique vision can never be questioned.
I enjoyed the film, leaving the cinema with a sense of wonder and wanting to find out more and maybe even revisit Fitzgerald's book.
3.5/5
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