Visually stunning

Rating: 7/10 (15 June 2014)

Full disclosure: I have never read the legendary novel The Great Gatsby. Although I did have a very good friend who got stuck taking a class where the instructor literally spent the entire semester having the class read and analyze this novel, so from her gripes I feel that I almost have read the book. Unfortunately, I have also watched the moribund 1970s film adaptation. So it was not without some hesitancy that I embarked to watch the latest film incarnation of this novel.
Baz Luhrmann actually remains faithful to the source as pretty much all of the key sequences known from the novel are present. The events are related through the eyes of young Nick Carraway, whose naivete is pretty much annihilated upon his arrival in 1920s New York. He witnesses the stormy faithless marriage of his cousin Daisy Buchanan to the loutish Tom Buchanan, whose only qualification in life seems to as an example of the idle rich. He first becomes curious about and then is invited into the world of the enigmatic and elusive millionaire next door, Jay Gatsby, which slowly leads to the inexorably tragic denouement.
First and foremost,the film is one of the most visually stunning I have ever seen. If nothing else worked, it is the kind of film where one can still just sit back and let the gorgeous imagery flow over them. I initially thought that Luhrmann's trademark over-emphatic visual approach would be all wrong for this project, but given the over-the-top lifestyles of the players involved, it actually fits perfectly. When Tom whisks a reluctant Nick to a secret apartment for a carousing party with Tom's mistress Myrtle, the visuals take on the quality of a fever dream. The fleeting meetings between Gatsby and Daisy in the garden accompanied by Lana Del Rey's evocatively sorrowful tune makes one think of things forever lost. Our first introduction to the legendary parties held by Gatsby is both overwhelming and yet oddly inviting, making us wish we could step through the screen and become one with the orgiastic celebrating. I have less of a problem with the setting inappropriate music than most people as I find it used fairly well to reflect the debaucheries of the characters on screen, although the most effective use of visuals and music occurs when Nick first meets Gatsby to the transcendent swells of Gershwin accompanied by fireworks and Leonardo DiCaprio never looking more dapper. The moment is almost camp in its adoration of its subject, but it works.
Whether it is Luhrmann's approach or the performances, this is also the first time that I actually felt some sympathy for the characters in this story. DiCaprio has rarely been better playing a nearly unplayable part. Gatsby must be charming, enigmatic, romantic, tragic and larger-than-life. The latter is a quality that most actors cannot master, but DiCaprio makes it seem effortless. Forget Wolf of Wall Street, this is the performance he should have been nominated for. Tobey Maguire is solid, if unspectacular, as Carraway, somewhat shackled by being shoe-horned into a passive observer role, although his outrage in the final moments is fairly palpable. Joel Edgerton captures the right amount of lizard and brute as Daisy's conniving husband. Isla Fisher and Elizabeth Debicki make strong impressions in supporting roles. The one performance on which I am torn is Carey Mulligan as Daisy. Like Gatsby, Daisy may well virtually be a near unplayable part. Whereas DiCaprio succeeds against the odds, I find Mulligan less successful. She makes a lovely entrance and initially captures Daisy's frail, passive nature with her husband. She also does fairly well when we get the back story on her relationship with Gatsby and reunites with him - their first meeting in Nick's cottage is quite expertly handled. There is also a pleasantly unreal quality to their romantic encounters. However, when Daisy starts to require more dramatic heft, particularly in the last third where she reveals her true selfish nature, Mulligan too often adopts the look of someone who just twisted her ankle and is unsuccessfully trying to hold in the pain. Mulligan, for better or worse, reminds one often of a young Mia Farrow here, who unsuccessfully essayed the role in the 1970s. I often found my eyes wandering more towards Debicki when she was on screen with Mulligan, because her character somehow seemed to be hiding more interesting secrets and emotions.
In the end, purists will probably complain about Luhrmann's approach, but the film is compulsively watchable and features some outstanding visual work and acting, and I think it comes closest to capturing the spirit of the story than any of the earlier screen incarnations have. I certainly would not recommend it to everyone, but I think there are a number of people who would find worthwhile.