The Great Gatsby

The make-up and lighting make Gatsby look like a leaked Madame Tussaud model. Luhrmann's lust for the most effective imagery neuters the sketches of everyone else, making The Great Gatsby the most poorly narrated (and subjectively longest) blockbuster of the season; a good party ends without a hangover, but here you're dragged to the sidelines with a queasy stomach before its climax. (12/01/2014)

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)

The time arc of 1922/1929 (or richer, as the flashbacks chart Gatsby's entire life) did not disappoint. That's what I call a film that I experience inwardly. A formal and dramatic orgasm. The overall production design alone is perfection (this isn't just any 1920s movie, this is the exact 1920s that I live for). ___ The flawless soundtrack has me undulating to "Young and Beautiful" (Lana del Rey), "Love is Blindness" (Jack White), and the searing "Bang Bang" (Will.i.am). (16/05/2013)

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)

It starts as intoxicating kitsch, then it becomes a tiresome mess stumbling on both feet. As far as gimmicky camera tricks and image wizardry go, Luhrmann is confident, but he fails in simple meaningful storytelling and in trying to get under the skin of the characters. I've mentioned kitsch – all those lavish parties make you feel like you're looking at a big garden dwarf, festooned with colourful ribbons and flashing light bulbs. But when it comes to feelings, it's like a shallow story in a girlie magazine, kind of plucking the daisy "He likes you, he likes you not, he likes you, he likes you not, he'll leave with you, he won't leave with you.....". Thank goodness for at least two things: Edgerton's manly Buchanan, the only full-blooded character in the entire panopticon, and the reunion scene between Gatsby and Daisy – the only moment in the entire film where you can feel any emotion. Luhrmann is getting a little stale. (25/05/2013)