The Great Gatsby

I don’t like the beginning. The cursory, while strangely long-winded introduction to the atmosphere of the time (full of image fade-ins and fade-outs and fragments of conversations), along with Tobey Maguire as the narrator, which didn’t please me much. At the moment that Gatsby shows up, the tempo relaxes and we get to the main plot. Personally, I made sure that I didn’t find out much before seeing the movie, because as someone who hasn’t read the book (which I now intend to get my hands on) I didn’t have a clue who Jay was. There are about as many parties in the movie as in the trailers, but most important are the very intellectual sounding dialogs or monologs about people in general. The outcome is momentous and I expect (and hope) that Fitzgerald delivered it similarly intensely. Baz Luhrmann this time didn’t really succeed in presenting the period differences between the illustrated and the contemporary (represented by modern music and references to contemporary life) and mainly failed to emphasis the social aspects of the story. All of the romance was first-class. The same as the after-effect. In terms of acting, DiCaprio is outstanding, but his co-stars put on a damn good performance too. Armstrong’s music is captivating, so I hope it’ll be in the soundtrack. Right, old sport? (24/05/2013)

For a long time, I didn’t even want to see The Great Gatsby. I didn’t like the director who made it. I didn’t enjoy any of his films, and I didn’t expect this one to be any different. However, it was an exception. Mainly because, although no one would expect it, the creators decided to add a ton of absolutely breathtaking and beautiful digital effects to this richly decorated movie from the 1920s, which suddenly makes the film into a fairy tale. Not to mention the dance music, which in a rather strange way combines the 1920s with the present. However, this fairy tale had so much speed since the beginning that I waited for a moment when it would exhale for the last time and not breathe again. I haven’t seen such fast pace in a movie for a long time, it was almost brutal. Eventually, however, after about half an hour Leonardo Di Caprio entered the scene and fortunately everything slowed down slightly. As typical for Leo, he showed a proper performance. But that can’t salvage the film’s absurd narration, so I have no other choice than give it three stars. Still, I have to admit that this was the best Baz Luhrmann’s movie I’ve seen so far. (14/09/2014)

What part of it makes us more crazy? That, according to Luhrmann, Fitzgerald is a superficial mannerist from the garrulous red library? That the 1920s look like a forgettable industrial dystopia mixed with the extravaganza of a lifestyle magazine? That the "glamor" aesthetic of the film is so ostentatious that it is annoying? That the characters are without exception flat and the most superficial is, coincidentally, the narrator? That the film has a totally nonsensical dramatic construction? That there is nothing left of the elegance and decadence of the "before the great fall" epoch but a flood of confetti and digital sterility? I don't even know and I really didn't care after a few minutes. A silly experience that is best described to me by Rex Reed's words: "This is one of the most maddening examples of wasted money ever dumped on the screen". (15/05/2013)

This theatrical love triangle has lively visuals, but a dull soul. Baz Luhrmann uses all the tricks that worked in Moulin Rouge! but does not come even close to depth of the portrayal of of tragic love achieved in the musical. We get to the character of Gatsby slowly, with great anticipation, and Leonardo DiCaprio looks good in his pastel suits (like everyone else), but his character paradoxically turns out to be the most impersonal and contradictory element of the film. We don’t really care about him, even though the film tells the story of his journey towards his dream, embodied by the beautiful Daisy. Carey Mulligan is merely an ornament, Joel Edgerton as her gruff husband is more noticeable than DiCaprio’s Gatsby. The only natural character is the “representative of the people” played by Tobey Maguire. Moulin Rouge! was energized and brought to life by its original energetic and emotionally engaging songs. The Great Gatsby pulls out Jay-Z’s overused hits (identifying with New York) and futilely tries to add a romantic dimension to a book of opulent pictures by using a captivating song by Lana Del Rey. Such a powerful theme, so many big thoughts ... And the viewer’s eyes will remain dry. ___ Second viewing: The scene of the confrontation of characters in the hotel room – if the whole film was done so intimately, in a psychologically concentrated fashion and dramaturgically sensitively, i.e. without unnecessary formal excesses and, in terms of music, satisfied itself with Lana Del Rey in key scenes, it could have been extraordinary. (15/05/2013)

From the first pages of the book, I knew that The Great Gatsby was the perfect material for Baz Luhrmann. And for me, as a person who 12 years ago couldn't catch a breath during the audiovisual musical version of Paris, the first half is a dream that I thought would never come true. A naive narrator, a perfect modern soundtrack, and captivating camera tricks that made me want to melt into the screen and stay there forever. Luhrmann simply knows what he's good at, and when his characteristic (sometimes almost carbon copied) narrative tricks are supported by the noble Leonardo DiCaprio, there is no doubt that the words "The Great" in the title are fully deserved. I am disappointed with the last act of the story just like I was with the book; F. Scott Fitzgerald stumbled a bit with the ending. And while it became somewhat bitter in places in light of the greater emphasis on the societal aspect, Luhrmann does not deviate from the opulent form for a moment. His storytelling is not a general social warning, but rather cautiously interhuman on a much smaller scale. And this more restrained approach far more aptly fits the story of love that was worth all the effort and suffering. (27/06/2013)