Review: The Great Gatsby

Ever celebrated or condemned for his pixie-dust-littered, glamour-pumped, sequin-laced modernizations, controversial auteur Baz Luhrmann returns to take on another literary masterpiece: THE GREAT GATSBY.

Originally penned in 1925 by F. Scott Fitzgerald, GATSBY was released to mixed reviews only to become known as one of the great American novels after its revival post-World War II. Such is bound to be a similar, albeit less dramatic story with Luhrmann’s film.

Featuring similar stylistic abundance to previous adaptations ROMEO + JULIET and MOULIN ROUGE!, this is an adaptation that blends contemporary hip-hop music and CGI into a classic. It is sure to be misunderstood and all-out rejected by many fans of the source. While Luhrmann’s THE GREAT GATSBY is not the definitive adaptation the world has failed to create for nearly a century, allowing preconceived notions as to how this story should look and behave to block any chance at enjoying it would be a mistake. The film is breathtaking, and more respectful to the source material than many directors would have been.

GATSBY follows Nick Carraway (Tobey Maguire) – a writer turned bank bond man who finds himself living in a small, inconspicuous bungalow next to the titular, mysterious Jay Gatsby. Gatsby (Leonardo DiCaprio) is known around Long Island, New York as the enigmatic and scarcely seen host of lavish, colossal parties in his West Egg mansion.

The time spent with the film before Gatsby is revealed is as mysterious and tantalizing as it should be – going as far as to only show us Gatsby’s back several times before the big reveal.

Carraway is brought into Gatsby’s world when he receives an invitation to one of his parties. Gatsby does not send invitations out, ever. What Gatsby wants from Carraway is simple, an introduction to Daisy Buchanan (Carey Mulligan) – Carraway’s cousin – whom he was romantically involved with five years prior.