Film Review: The Great Gatsby (Baz Luhrmann, 2013)

What up...old sport?

Really quite good. Well, it's certainly the best Baz Luhrmann film.

For those for whom Luhrmann's previous films were somewhat...loud, the Great Gatsby will initially seem not dissimilar to works like Moulin Rouge! and Romeo + Juliet (Anybody else refer to this as Romeo Plus Juliet? No? Just me, then.*) in its resolute gaudiness, the director pouring champagne on any traditional definition of good taste, and drowning out the cries of the detractors with the juxtapositional din of the soundtrack Jay-Z "executive produced." Sometimes the music stops and, behind incessant chatter, one can hear the director flicking through banknotes, or set and costume design specifications.

[*I'm surprised he didn't think to add some quirky punctuation to this one, ie. The Great Gatsby? or The Gr8! Gatsby]

Much has been made of the film's post-modern treatment of the "Roaring Twenties," and it truly is ludicrous; amidst the Bacchanalian excess of the party sequences, the guests seem to pour alcohol over people and things as much as they actually drink it. So much for prohibition. At one point, the protagonists drive their CGI car past a vehicle full of African-Americans who are...wait for it...splashing alcohol around and listening to Jay-Z. Yeah, I think Luhrmann could do well to take a closer look at the social history of the United States.

What's remarkable is that, at around the halfway point, the film becomes good. And, I mean, really good. Its greatest scene, a tumultuous hotel-room summit featuring all of the primary ensemble, is light on "Luhrmannisms" and heavy on character and dialogue. When he allows himself a brief technical flourish, towards the scene's climax, it is particularly deserved, and especially effective.

Once the film gets into its groove, you realise that, for example, instances of the gimmicky culture-clash soundtrack (can I just set the record straight and say that I actually really like Jay-Z, and consider 'The Blueprint' to be one of the 21st century's finest albums) are, in fact, few and far between. It's like Luhrmann spends the opening portion of the film luring his fan-base into thinking they're in their comfort zone of "ooh! look! bright colours! shiny things! fast cars! lovely dresses!" and then decides to actually do The Great Gatsby.

The turning point was, for me, the scene wherein Nick, at Gatsby's request, invites Daisy Buchanan for tea. I'm sorry, but I'm not going to explain The Great Gatsby's plot to anybody; it's a book that absolutely everybody needs to read. I tried to adapt the aforementioned scene into screenplay form for my A-Level English coursework, writing it in the style of a Woody Allen comedy. The "comedy" pretence proved to be just that, upon my realisation that Fitzgerald's masterful prose was infinitely funnier than anything I could hope to write. There is little of the novel's bitter, satirical humour in the picture, but this scene balances it perfectly (and, a rare occurrence in this adaptation, relatively faithfully) with heart-wrenching drama. DiCaprio continues his winning streak with a wonderfully charismatic and vulnerable performance that adds immeasurably to the whole "show." Carrie Mulligan manages to nail Daisy's shallow charm, but it is far from her best work; disappointingly so, as she is generally excellent in everything, and was a primary reason for looking forward to this adaptation. Toby Maguire, whilst never the most arresting screen presence, carries the film; it would fall apart with work less solid than his.

Yet, despite its cast of the talented and the beautiful, The Great Gatsby is a flawed film. Perhaps - ironically when one considers its contemporary and historical context - the financiers just gave Luhrmann too much money? Whilst it was certainly a decadent time for America's privileged classes, and Gatsby's lower-class aspiration remains at its heart, the critical near-consensus that it is simply an overbearing aesthetic for a novel of such nuance and subtlety is hard to disagree with.

Oh, and I saw it in 2D. Baz Luhrmann can make a reasonably enjoyable film, but that doesn't mean I'm going to pay him extra money so I can put a pair of glasses over my glasses. I'm not a total asshole.