Cast

Leonardo DiCaprio – Jay Gatsby
Tobey Maguire – Nick Carraway
Carey Mulligan – Dasiy Buchanan
Joel Edgerton – Tom Buchanan
Jason Clarke – George Wilson
Isla Fisher – Myrtle Wilson
Elizabeth Debicki – Jordan Baker
Amitabh Bachman – Meyer Wolfsheim

Directed by Baz Luhrmann

Rated PG-13 for some violent images, sexual content, smoking, partying and brief language.

Review

If you ever took any English class in high school (which I am assuming everyone has), odds are you have at one point or another reading F. Scott Fitzgerald‘s classic novel ‘The Great Gatsby‘. Written in 1925, it is a story of obsession, desire and the underbelly of the American Dream. So it almost goes without saying that it has been examined numerous times in various different mediums, including film – where it has been adapted five different times, including a fairly laughable attempt in 1974 starring Mia Farrow and an admittedly appropriately cast Robert Redford as the legendary Gatsby. But now, thirty-nine years (!) since the last theatrical film adaptation, Warner Brothers has decided to take another crack at the tale, enlisting visionary filmmaker Baz Luhrmann to take on the challenge of creating a new, fresh take on one a story nearly a decade old.

If there is one thing I can say about Luhrman as a director, it is this – The man loves spectacle. From Moulin Rouge to his abominable  Romeo + Juliet, the man knows how to make a scene. And in all honesty, that makes him the perfect choice to direct The Great Gatsby. Gatsby is a man who is about making a scene, one that cannot be ignored and is over-the-top in its extravagance. This film really lives and dies based on Luhrmann’s ability to make the titular character live up to the legend, and for the most part, he actually succeeds. He manages to craft a bombastic world that occasionally borders on being too overly surreal, yet never fully succumbs to it. This allows his larger than life characters a sandbox to engage in their wild lifestyles of drinking, dancing and partying the night away in a way that feels breathtaking yet still fairly believable. Hell, you may even want to join in the festivities yourself.

Continue reading →