THE GREAT GATSBY

THE GREAT GATSBY Review

By Darin Skaggs

     Baz Luhrmann has a certain style to him.  He can be viewed as a visual genius or an annoying pretentious filmmaker, most of the time in the same viewing of the same film.  His latest film The Great Gatsby is no exception.  The film is told with amazing visuals, mostly good performances and his average amount of non-stop editing.

     The Great Gatsby, based upon the book of the same name, is told from the perspective of Nick Carraway played by Toby Maguire.  He meets Jay Gatsby, played by Leonardo DiCaprio, a man who hosts big parties and lives the life of a rich man.  He is also tortured by one fact; he is not with the love of his life, Daisy, played by Carey Mulligan.  Gatsby, who is desperate to be with Daisy, who is now married to someone else, struggles with this fact until it takes him over leading to his fate.

     DiCaprio must have had a mid-life crisis or something because all of his performances lately have knocked it out of the park, including this one.  You can tell Gatsby is sad under all acts he puts on for his hundreds of guest he has at his party.  Mulligan and others do great work as well.  Maguire, not so much.

     The performances are great, which you can overlook from the amazing cinematography.  There are lights all around the city and in the background it almost looks like Luhrmann makes them look fake on purpose to create his own special style.  It is dazzling and while the actors are acting their heart out you at times find yourself staring into the distance.  This film almost wants to be a distraction from its actors by playing hip hop music during most of the party scenes and other scenes as well.  The music was supervised by Jay-Z, the rapper, which is a very interesting choice because the film is set in the 1920’s. 

     With these three elements that don’t mix: the actors, the visual aspect and the music, the film almost blends perfectly to make one big delicious film casserole.