I don't know what I expected...

Rating: 4/10 (17 August 2013)

Baz Luhrman style is quite unique, in a bad way. I didn't like Romeo+Juliet or Moulin Rouge, but at least I could understand why other people would like those films. When I heard that he would direct a new version of "The Great Gatsby", I already had mixed feelings.
The main idea behind the story is that people like Daisy, Tom, Nick and Jordan are "old money" and have a sober, unexciting and monotonous life; but "Gatsby" is supposed a pretentious "new rich" who ends up being flamboyant, tacky and vulgar. Honestly, I thought that Luhrman was going to portray Gatsby's lifestyle like in Moulin Rouge and the others lives like a common film to make the contrast. However, the whole movie was over the top and extravagant. No homophobia intended, but this was probably the gayest mainstream film ever made. Characters like Daisy and Jordan seemed just as flamboyant as any other person at Gatsby's parties. This was probably mentioned a million times, but a movie of this genre shouldn't have this kind of editing. Not a single scene in the whole movie was static, there was movement and cuts every 3 seconds. I don't know what's the idea of spending so much in a film if you won't even let people enjoy the scenes.
On another point, I thought that all actors were great and talented. However... they didn't have the proper look. Dicaprio is obviously a handsome man, but he definitely doesn't look 32. Carey Mulligan is quite beautiful, but it is quite a shame that she didn't look that nice in the film; Elizabeth Debicki seemed much more beautiful than her as Jordan.
Finally, about the story itself, I think it is a shame that they just forgot about Jordan's character in the middle of the film. She just suddenly stops talking at some point. I also didn't like the fact that they took out the 2 of the most memorable parts of the novel: Jordan and Nick's break up (in the film it doesn't seem like they even break up) and when Nick finds Tom in New York again after all the events.
And well, I would like to say that this film was a big disappointment, but honestly, it was absolutely expected from Baz Luhrman to direct the film exactly like this. I don't even know what I expected... maybe I wanted him to redeem himself from all his other terrible films... but well, that's just too idealistic.