Director Baz Luhrmann’s retelling of “The Great Gatsby” was much better back in 2001 when he called it “Moulin Rouge!” Both films are carved from the same vision and feature Luhrmann’s cinematic dreams fully realized in vibrant colors that glow in the dark. The pulsating dance floor of the Parisian cabaret is now replaced with Jay Gatsby’s legendary parties pulsating in the heart of New York in the Roaring 20s. You can call it a return to form or you can call it lazy, either way it is the style of the film that Luhrmann becomes lost in with “Gatsby” leaving us with something that is gorgeous to look at but emotionally weightless.
Oh, but it truly is something to behold. The film was shot in 3D and must be seen as intended. Luhrmann continues the trend of great directors using the 3D medium and using it to its full potential. Think Scorsese zipping down the train station in “Hugo” or Lee placing you on a boat with a tiger in “Life of Pi”. “The Great Gatsby” is loaded with hyper-kinetic energy as the camera zips around the synthetic world. During the first half of the film, the images are crammed with a thousand ideas per frame that will leave you breathless. This, and this alone, is worth the price of the E ticket.
“The Great Gatsby” fails when it comes to the people, the characters and, to be fair, this may just be the shortcomings of the source material. The mandatory high school reading material that is F. Scott Fitzgerald’s short novel is filled with shallow revelers that epitomize the greed and excess of America Before the Depression. While these vapid vermin read well enough, translating them to flesh has been a problem. Just look at the lifeless and vanilla Robert Redford version of the 70s.
We see the world through the eyes of Nick Carraway (Tobey Maguire), a penniless wallflower that does little to interact with the world around him. He is trying to make his way in the world but has friends and family in high places. His cousin Daisy (Carey Mulligan) is married to a rich man who boozes and womanizes but she keeps quiet, consoled by the string of pearls around her neck.
Nick lives next to a castle of sorts that houses the mysterious Jay Gatsby (Leonardo DiCaprio), a man who throws the most lavish of parties but whose intentions and background are unknown. Nick quickly befriends Gatsby but there is a plan behind the Great One’s extended hand. Gatsby has a connection in the past to Daisy and… this is when the movie turns into a melodramatic mess.
Instead of wasting time commenting on Leo’s performance (he struggles) or Carey’s hairstyle (she’s a vision and gives us the best work by the cast) I would like to mention my favorite character in the film: The Soundtrack. The movie is filled with vital music that gives the story whatever heartbeat it can muster. Much like “Moulin Rouge!,” the music does not feel out of place and allows Luhrmann to turn something old into something modern. Jay Z tells us the story, Jack White makes us feel the loss of love better than any actor on the screen.