Baz Lurhmann is a divisive director. People tend to really dislike or love his works and I am happy to report that I tend to love his films. I know they are over the top, flashy, gaudy even, but he is a bit like Tarantino to me in that he has his own style. In 5 minutes I could tell you I was watching a Baz movie and I love that.
The Great Gatsby is of course an adaptation of the extremely famous book by F Scott Fitzgerald and Im sure many of you have read it. Its an iconic book for its style, its tone and its capturing of a unique time in U.S. history. One of my criticisms of the film is that Baz has completely ignored this, or maybe, just translated this into his own style so much that it has lost that amazing allure. The film was fairly good but overall I found it to be more of an effort to watch than I wanted it to be. The flashy sequences in Gatsby's house didn't quite gel for me, which may have been intentional, and the overuse of spectacle and strange composition and glaring colours in quieter scenes pulled me from the film.
Leo DiCaprio is typically brilliant as Gatsby but he seemed to struggle when portraying his emotional fault and unfortunately the chemistry between himself and Carey Mulligan was naught. Tobey McGuire was really great as Nick Carraway and played off the mystery and power of Gatsby beautifully. Joel Edgerton was probably the stand out of the main cast, playing a really different sort of antagonist in a role that shows he really can act. And, Carey Mulligan was her typical wonderful self. She has that amazing capability of being stunningly beautiful and hauntingly humble.
I would recommend seeing this movie at least once for its pinpoint perfect creation of sets, scenery, digital effects, costumes & for the story. But unfortunately I have to say this isn't Baz's finest hour. I know a lot of people had problems with his Australia but I actually quite like that movie, and in my opinion that is a better film that Gatsby.
My favourite scene of the whole movie was actually the last shot, where the title of the book is displayed and it simply says 'Gatsby' then our narrator comes back and writes in handwriting 'The Great' in front of it. This seems to me an unintentionally ironic ending as Baz obviously focused too much on 'The Great' and not enough on the 'Gatsby' when making this film.
SCORE: 5/10
IMDB Info for The Great Gatsby
The Great Gatsby is of course an adaptation of the extremely famous book by F Scott Fitzgerald and Im sure many of you have read it. Its an iconic book for its style, its tone and its capturing of a unique time in U.S. history. One of my criticisms of the film is that Baz has completely ignored this, or maybe, just translated this into his own style so much that it has lost that amazing allure. The film was fairly good but overall I found it to be more of an effort to watch than I wanted it to be. The flashy sequences in Gatsby's house didn't quite gel for me, which may have been intentional, and the overuse of spectacle and strange composition and glaring colours in quieter scenes pulled me from the film.
Leo DiCaprio is typically brilliant as Gatsby but he seemed to struggle when portraying his emotional fault and unfortunately the chemistry between himself and Carey Mulligan was naught. Tobey McGuire was really great as Nick Carraway and played off the mystery and power of Gatsby beautifully. Joel Edgerton was probably the stand out of the main cast, playing a really different sort of antagonist in a role that shows he really can act. And, Carey Mulligan was her typical wonderful self. She has that amazing capability of being stunningly beautiful and hauntingly humble.
I would recommend seeing this movie at least once for its pinpoint perfect creation of sets, scenery, digital effects, costumes & for the story. But unfortunately I have to say this isn't Baz's finest hour. I know a lot of people had problems with his Australia but I actually quite like that movie, and in my opinion that is a better film that Gatsby.
My favourite scene of the whole movie was actually the last shot, where the title of the book is displayed and it simply says 'Gatsby' then our narrator comes back and writes in handwriting 'The Great' in front of it. This seems to me an unintentionally ironic ending as Baz obviously focused too much on 'The Great' and not enough on the 'Gatsby' when making this film.
SCORE: 5/10
IMDB Info for The Great Gatsby
Havent read the book so I don't know first hand on how close the adaptation is, but I've read from plenty that its fairly loose. I don't mind this. Im happy with directors taking the source material and putting their own spin on it. After all, Kubricks version of The Shining isn't a fair representation of Kings novel but its still a brilliant movie.
ReplyDeleteIs this a brilliant movie? Probably not. But in typical Baz fashion, this is a joy to watch visually. Wonderful set design and art direction. I think its easy to lose yourself in this. Overall its an entertaining movie. Acting was fine to good. Script I thought was poor. 7/10
I watched this with a wine that also polarises opinion - a Pinot.