A Vivid Re-Imagined Film Full of Life and Mystery!

Rating: 9/10 (22 November 2013)

The party only really ends when the woman of your dreams becomes your reality. "The Great Gatsby" centers on the mysterious Jay Gatsby, a wealthy and illustrious man who throws extravagant parties and who has a sort of mystique set to his name - nobody really knowing his past nor where his fame and wealth truly came from. It is the mysterious past of Jay Gatsby that drives the film forward and what keeps the audience in dazed wonderment as the story unfolds.
In Fitzgerald's own words from the novel, "So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past." The film "The Great Gatsby" has been one of many representations of the novel, each one having different feels and imagery, but in my humble opinion this has been the best. The depiction of society gave me the impression of an exciting lifestyle marked by a rapidly growing market and degradation through cheap alcohol. Society, at the time, couldn't have seemed more alive and booming. It is through this period that the story of the great Gatsby is revealed.
The novel, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, was written in the year 1925 and soon became a legacy, an inspiration, a novel of great value. It centers on idealism, resistance to change, change being an enemy unto mankind, as well as the American dream that "we can have it all." It paints a vivid picture of the 'roaring 20s' and the beautiful jazz age in the great Big Apple. This picturesque period is the subject of many novels and films, having no shortage of unique stories and myths.
Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Tobey Maguire, Joel Edgerton, and the beautiful Carey Mulligan, "The Great Gatsby" is a colorful and intriguing take on the novel. The film was directed by Baz Luhrmann (Moulin Rouge, Australia), who is well known for his use of bright colors and fast-paced editing. He created a visual symphony to represent this thrilling story of love and riches, but, unfortunately, Luhrmann's distinctive taste has made the film subject to some negative reviews as well as low numbers in theaters.
But can I say the same as those film critics who claim that the film is too flashy or too contemporary for a fictional story based in the 1920s? No. To me, the story was told as it should have been told to audiences of today. The actors generated personalities similar to that which is found in the novel, the story was gripping and told by the character named Nick Carraway as it is also done in the novel, and the imagery and symbolism was portrayed just as it was to be imagined. A novel of such caliber deserves to be visually told excitedly and thoroughly and should not suffer from lack of imagination.