Touch the Green Light

Rating: 8/10 (13 May 2013)

Greetings again from the darkness. Movie versions of beloved books are always a risky proposition. Devotees of the written word recoil in disgust when a filmmaker dares re-imagine a character or scene, while critics take delight in itemizing each and every stray from the source material. Director Baz Luhrmann is an artist. His canvas is the silver screen, and he thrives in presenting his interpretations and visions. When he agreed to take on F Scott Fitzgerald's 88 year old masterpiece  one that consistently lands on the lists of top ten novels of all-time  he most assuredly prepared for the onslaught of criticism and outrage that would follow (and has). He must have also known that his work would delight and entertain those open-minded viewers not shackled to thoughts of a single "correct" form (it has).
If you have seen Luhrmann's Moulin Rouge! (2001) or Romeo + Juliet (1996), then you are prepared for a Gatsby vision significantly different from director Jack Clayton's somber and oft-dreary version starring Robert Redford and Mia Farrow. Taking a different route altogether, Luhrmann worked with Jay-Z on the soundtrack that mixes Roaring 20's jazz classics with contemporary hip-hop. He worked with award-winning Costume Designer Catherine Martin (his wife) on creating a kaleidoscope of colors for dazzling outfits that range from Gatsby's pastel suits to the glitzy and sparkling party dresses at his over-the-top parties. Additionally, Luhrmann invoked the newest 3-D technology to add even more emphasis to the visual spectacle that included free-flowing champagne, high-gloss and high-powered automobiles screaming down narrow roads, sky-filling fireworks, and enough glittery confetti to stop down a parade. Jay Gatsby may know how to throw party, but so does Baz Luhrmann.
Knowing this movie was coming soon, I re-read Fitzgerald's novel back in January. While I was once again struck by the depressing feeling it leaves you with (it is after all a tragedy), I was also reminded of what stunning prose the writer lays out. At times I find it borders on poetry. You may agree with many of the 1925 critics who claimed the characters are unlikeable and the plot has little to offer, though you must also acknowledge the work acts as a timeless reminder that the vast majority of us could never come close to writing something as beautiful.
The cast members are talented and game for Luhrmann's world. Leonardo DiCaprio infuses the Gatsby character with the uncertainty and teetering balance of secrecy that Redford never could. His obsession with Daisy (Carey Mulligan) may be difficult to understand, but then why should obsessive love make sense? Joel Edgerton (as Daisy's husband Tom) is a womanizing brute who sets his own inherited wealth and culture as far apart as East and West Egg. Tobey Maguire's Nick Carraway is our lone claim to normalcy. He is thrust into the Gatsby world and never really understands it  but then who could? The Carraway character is my single biggest complaint in regards to the movie. The framing device of Nick writing the story down for his psychiatrist as part of his therapy, means we get entirely too much Tobey Maguire and Nick Carraway for my tastes.
It's also a bit disappointing that we get so little of the strong supporting cast: Isla Fisher as Myrtle, Jason Clarke as Myrtle's husband, and especially Bollywood star Amitabh Bachchan as Meyer Wolfsheim and newcomer Elizabeth Debricki as Jordan Baker are seen and heard from entirely too few times. In fact, the Nick and Jordan connection from the book is mostly ignored. These are all fabulous actors who did what they could with the characters, but we should remind ourselves that Fitzgerald's book was always more about the prose than the characters or plot. He told us what he wanted us to know more than have his characters show us. That was his art form. Baz Luhrmann's art form is showing  and his show is quite a treat!