Best Luhrmann's film so far

Rating: 7/10 (31 May 2013)

I never really liked Baz Luhrmann's movies. Too many colors, too many gaudy details, too many objects, too many camera movements, too many shots edited too quickly. Too much of everything. Too far from the cinema I like, which is a cinema that takes its time, that shows without showing itself. Roméo+Juliette and Moulin Rouge! left me with a visual indigestion that made me want to watch nothing but Bresson's films for a while. So I have to admit I was reluctant to see Luhrmann's new film. I didn't particularly liked the 1974′s version, nor loved the novel, so I wasn't scared to be disappointed. I just thought of taking some Alka-Seltzer with me just in case I needed to neutralize the big baroque pudding I was going to be fed. So is my stupidly prejudging the film helped me like it? Maybe yes. I guess it's easier to be pleasantly surprised with a film you already hate. After the first minutes, I'm already reasonably irritated by the stupefied air of Nick's character, and even more by the very unsubtle and unnecessary tracking shots of a camera flying across the bay between West Egg and East Egg. And then something happens. I enter the Buchanans' mansion. And there, in a very bright scene, in both senses of the word, I meet Daisy, and I get in just a few shots all the illusion of her character, made of frivolity and unhappiness. Then I follow Nick and Tom in their ride into town, and, in Tom's secret apartment, I find myself in the middle of an animated David Lachapelle's photograph, and I think yes, Lurhmann is great at capturing the essence of the party. Another party scene, that time at Gatsby's, and again I'm amazed at the filmmaker's mastery of rhythm, sounds and visual effects. Lurhmann's frenzy is no longer emetic, it's orgasmic. In many ways, Luhrmann's movie is more explicit than the 1974 version, and than the novel. The frenzy, the hysteria of sights and sounds serve the tragedy because they underline the emptiness. Luhrmann's Gatsby might lose a little bit of his mystery, but he gains in vulnerabilty and in humanity. We feel close to him. DiCaprio with his juvenile looks is perfect for the part. Gatsby in his pool is Jack at the end of Titanic. We love him, we want Daisy to love him, and we want his dream to come true. Luhrmann's Gatsby is not a madman, His love is obsessionnal, he is madly in love, but he is not sick, society is. Of course, and it is intentional, Gatsby and his relationship with Daisy eclipse all the rest. Nick is merely a filter through which we see Gatsby, and his relationship with Jordan Baker is completely overlooked. The two by the way I thought more clearly sexually ambiguous than the characters of Capote's script. Luhrmann loves mannerism and anachronisms, but here, it works fine. Amy Winehouse, Lana Del Rey, André 3000, The XX, etc., surprisingly fit. I did not feel like I was watching MTV like I did for Moulin Rouge!. This new version of The Great Gatsby is an ambitious and intelligent movie. All throughout the film, Luhrmann plays with codes, with the history of cinema, with our gaze. He does get carried away sometimes, but more often he is in the right. Read more reviews on http://filmcritiks.wordpress.com/