The Great Gatsby
Tags: tragedy

Plot synopsis:
The film starts with a shot of the flashing green light in East Egg, Long Island, as Nick Carraway (Tobey Maguire) says how his father told him to always see the good in others. He is seen in the Perkins Sanitarium talking to a doctor, whose records indicate that Nick is there due to his alcoholism, among other things. Nick adds that there was only one person who he saw good in: Gatsby.Nick takes us back to the previous spring in 1922, where Wall Street was booming, and bootleggers were in business due to the alcohol ban. Nick moves to a cottage on Long Island in West Egg, saying he was full of ambition as he started working as a bond broker for Wall Street after originally wanting to be a writer. This cottage was next door to Gatsby's mansion.Nick goes across the bay to visit his cousin Daisy (Carey Mulligan) and her blue blooded husband Tom Buchanan (Joel Edgerton), who went to Yale with Nick. Daisy introduces Nick to Jordan Baker (Elizabeth Debicki), a golfer. Over dinner, we learn that Tom is pretty arrogant and racist, remarking on the rise of the colored empire. He gets a phone call, and Jordan tells Nick that Tom is having an affair. Later, Nick walks with Daisy, who says she has become cynical lately. Nick asks about her daughter, and Daisy mentions she is glad she had a girl and hopes she can be a fool, because, in her words, that's the best thing a girl in this world can be. Nick returns home and notices a figure standing on the pier and looking and reaching toward the green light, and Nick believes this is Gatsby.The doctor at the sanitarium convinces Nick to write a novel about his experience. He continues the story by writing about the Valley of Ashes, a desolate part of New York featuring a billboard with two eyes watching over everybody, said to be the eyes of T.J. Eckleburg. Nick and Tom are headed to the Yale Club when they get off the commuter train and head to a car repair garage run by George Wilson (Jason Clarke). Tom chats with him over business matters, and George's wife Myrtle (Isla Fisher) comes downstairs. It becomes obvious that she is Tom's mistress. She mentions her sister is coming to New York and wants to introduce her to Nick.Later, at an apartment, while Tom and Myrtle are going at it in the bedroom, her sister Catherine (Adelaide Clemens) comes in with two other friends. They begin to have a party, and Nick remarks that this is only the second time he's ever been drunk. At night, he watches from the window and looks upon the people in the town, saying he finds himself within and without the world he is in. Myrtle comes out of the bedroom shouting Daisy's name, enraging Tom and causing him to smack her hard across the face.Nick wakes up in his home and says he has no memory of how he got back. He opens front door to find that he has received an invitation to a party at Gatsby's, saying he was the only one who has ever gotten a direct invitation, as all the other wealthy people in New York just come to his mansion and indulge themselves. He goes to the party, which is extravagant, and asks around for Gatsby, but nobody has seen him. He runs into Jordan, who is also curious to find him. They hear rumors such as Gatsby being a German spy or an assassin. Eventually, Nick happens to encounter the man himself, Jay Gatsby (Leonardo DiCaprio). Nick tells Jordan that he imagined Gatsby to be older and fatter. A man comes by and tells Jordan that Gatsby wishes to speak with her in private. A while later, as the party comes to an end, she comes out telling Nick that she just heard something very shocking. Before she can say anything else, she is pulled away by a snobby rich man.The next morning, Gatsby shows up at Nick's cottage in his Duesenberg and takes Nick on a trip, describing to him "God's truth" about himself. He claims to have come from a wealthy family that are now all dead, and later attending Oxford and going on to become a decorated WWI veteran. He takes Nick into the city to meet with his business partner Meyer Wolfsheim (Amitabh Bachchan). They go into a bar beneath a barbershop where bootlegged alcohol is being sold. We learn that Wolfsheim is rumored to have rigged the 1919 World Series, and Gatsby considers setting Nick up for a business with them. Tom Buchanan shows up, at which point Gatsby vanishes.Nick has lunch with Jordan, who tells him what her conversation with Gatsby was about. Through a flashback, we learn from Jordan that five years earlier, Gatsby and Daisy were romantically involved while living in Louisville, Kentucky when Gatsby was a war officer. When he is called away, she waited for him, but then eventually met Tom and was set to marry him. Before their wedding, however, she got a letter from Gatsby, causing Daisy to nearly get cold feet, but she went on to marry Tom. Gatsby also intentionally bought his mansion across from Daisy's home, hoping to see her. Jordan tells Nick that he wants him to invite Daisy over for tea. He approaches Gatsby that night and says he will do it.The following morning, a bunch of people fix up Nick's lawn and home, and it's clear that Gatsby intended to have tea at Nick's place instead of his. They fix it up and make it look nice, but Gatsby starts getting nervous. He almost leaves until Daisy comes in. Nick brings her inside, but Gatsby has fled. She is amazed at all the flowers in the living room, and then Nick hears a knock at the door. It is Gatsby, dripping wet from the pouring rain outside. He enters, and Daisy sees him, and they both comment on how glad they are to see each other again. The tea time is awkward, until Nick decides to leave them alone by saying he is going into the city. When he gets back to his house, Gatsby decides to take them to his place, and they spend some time at the beach before coming back to his home. He shows Daisy a variety of shirts he possesses, and while she is excited, she starts crying. Nick knows it's sudden for her after five years, but she won't admit that.Nick tells some truth about Gatsby. His real name is James Gatz, and that he came from a poor family of farmers from North Dakota. He did not see himself as part of that family and as he got older, he set off to accomplish more. While riding his boat, he encountered a yacht sailed by a man named Dan Cody (Steve Bisley). The young James Gatz rescued him from a storm and went on to sail with him, adopting some of Cody's customs like using the term "old sport" (which he frequently calls Nick). After Cody died, he did not receive his inheritance because of Cody's family, so Gatsby went on to make himself a wealthy man.Gatsby throws another party, this time having Daisy and Tom show up. She and Gatsby retreat to a nearby location where they begin to kiss passionately. Daisy says she wishes they could run away together. Gatsby is pulled away by his butler to settle a business dispute. After the party is over, Gatsby believes Daisy did not have a good time. He tells Nick that he needs her to tell Tom she doesn't love him so they can go back to Louisville and get married. Nick tells him he can't repeat the past, but Gatsby insists he can. He notes the first time he kissed Daisy when they first met, and Gatsby felt he had already married her. Before leaving, he tells Nick he is wrong about the past.Gatsby stops throwing parties for a while. One day, which happens to be the hottest day of the summer, he invites Nick, Daisy, Tom, and Jordan over for lunch. Gatsby tries to hold Daisy's hand, but she panics and claims she is bored and wants to go into the city. Tom notices that she is feeling something for Gatsby, so he agrees to go into the city. Gatsby and Daisy drive off in his car while Tom takes Nick and Jordan. They stop for gas at George Wilson's garage, and he has learned of Myrtle's infidelity, but not that she's sleeping with Tom.The group meets up at a hotel where a man is cutting up a large block of ice to pass around because of the heat and for drinks. Tom starts to slowly antagonize Gatsby, hoping for a confrontation. He mocks his use of "old sport", claiming he lied about Oxford, and accuses him of bootlegging with Wolfsheim. Gatsby hits back by saying Daisy loves him and not Tom, putting her in an uncomfortable position. As Tom continues to egg him on, Gatsby snaps, throws the alcohol and grabs Tom, screaming at him and nearly hitting him. This frightens Daisy and Jordan. She and Gatsby leave. Tom decides to open a bottle of liquor and offers Nick some. He remarks that he just remembered that day was his birthday.At night, Myrtle is being abused by George as he asks her where she got her pearls. She runs out into the street as she sees the Duesenberg coming, thinking it's Tom. The car speeds as Gatsby grabs the wheel, trying to swerve, but the car strikes Myrtle and kills her instantly. Tom, Nick, and Jordan drive by the scene and discover Myrtle's corpse as the police are on the scene. Tom is visibly distraught but denies having known her well. He goes to George, who is grieving. Tom tells him that the car that hit Myrtle was driven by Gatsby.The Buchanans go back to their place. Jordan invites Nick inside, but he refuses. As he leaves, he hears Gatsby calling to him. He tells Nick that Daisy was driving after leaving the city to ease her tension, but although he tried to move the car, they were unable to stop from hitting Myrtle. Nick walks away, seeing Tom and Daisy talking, apparently having reconciled.Nick meets up with Gatsby later as he is fixing up the Duesenberg and covering it. He learns more about Gatsby - the whole truth. Gatsby was always after Daisy and hoped she would wait for him after he came back from the war. Although he was penniless, he wanted to come back to her, but she had already married Tom. Nick realizes Gatsby truly loved Daisy, and he only threw the parties in the hopes that she would show up for one of them. That morning, Gatsby's gardener comes in and says he is to drain the pool before the leaves fall. Gatsby decides to take a swim before that and asks Nick to join him but he declines. Before finally leaving, Nick tells Gatsby that the Buchanans are rotten people and that Gatsby is worth more than them. They share a friendly wave before departing.At work, Nick is too distracted and hopes Gatsby will call him with good news. At the same time, we see Daisy looking at her phone as she considers calling Gatsby. The phone rings at his place, and Gatsby hears it, excited. However, he does not see George Wilson behind him, who shoots him in the back. He falls into his pool, dead, just as George turns the gun on himself. We also see that it was Nick, not Daisy, who was calling, and he panics as he heard the gunshots.After Gatsby's death, the media blamed him for the affair with Myrtle, as well as her death. Nick is upset that he could not tell them the truth. His place is bombarded with reporters who ungraciously huddle over his open casket. Nick tries to get in touch with Daisy, but she and Tom are leaving with their daughter, packing up everything and having their butler tell Nick they are gone. Nick adds that virtually nobody attended Gatsby's funeral except him. He would later go on to leave New York and go back to the Midwest, completely disillusioned. He also muses that Gatsby could not see that his dream of being with Daisy was behind him.Nick completes his novel, simply titling it "Gatsby". He takes another look at the cover page and writes something extra, now calling it "The Great Gatsby".

Review: I myself have read the book and have always been so intrigued with the character of Gatsby, and when I heard a few years back that he would be portrayed on the big screen by DiCaprio, I couldn't wait.
The acting was great overall, as you can trust these actors to deliver.I read somewhere on IMDb (message board or another reviewer, I can't remember) that Leonardo wasn't a good fit for the role of Gatsby.
The character development of Jay Gatsby, and the development of all those surrounding him gives us such a deep look at the relationships of such a diverse category of people.The storyline is obviously interesting: A man realizes his new neighbor is a mysterious, and incredibly wealthy man.
Daisy was Gatsby's great love, but he lost her, and now in one final herculean effort he is going to correct his past this one last time.
This decision (both DeCaprio's and Luhrmann's) to take Gatsby down from some ethereal literary icon into a flesh and blood human being gives the movie an intensity that the 1974 version and most of the literary criticism of the book that I have ever read, never perceived.
For all the time that Gatsby spends trying to prove he is good enough for Daisy, the audience, for the book or the film, is led down the path that she is not good enough for him.
Whatever the viewers or readers opinion of the characters are, Gatsby and Daisy do love each other, but Fitzgerald was not interested in boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl and they all live happily ever after.
If I'm going to be honest I think a lot of the negative reviews coming in are due to the "classic" status of the book, people want to act like the hours of school discussions should make this film less fanciful and serious 100 percent of the time.
I thought DiCaprio understood a complex character and was adequately convincing.I Love Carey Mulligan and thought she was mostly convincing as Daisy.I liked it when the story stuck to Fitzgerald - which was about 75% of the time.
While I generally did not like the soundtrack I loved that Gershwin's' Rhapsody in Blue' snuck in there in the first scenes in Manhattan.The "Valley of Ashes" and the "Dr. T.J. Eckleburg, Occulist" sign are really well done - but sadly, the scenes there are so rushed and so downplayed as to prevent that location from being the symbol of death Fitzgerald intended it to be...The scene in Nick's house where Daisy is invited to tea and re-meets Gatsby.What I did not like about it:Every scene with Tobey Maguire in it.
By the end of the movie I was praying for George Wilson to shoot him.Luhrmann's story telling device (Nick Carraway in a Sanitarium telling the story to a Doctor who encourages him to write it) - Really Baz Luhrman, you're gonna improve on Fitzgerald?Luhrmann's other story telling device: the words on the screen.
After the last party scene, the soundtrack was much better and the rest of the movie felt like Fitzgerald to me.BTW - I generally am a fan of Baz Luhrmann's work.
delightful..Moet Champaign (which apparently bought huge stock in this movie)Joel Edgerton ('nuff said)The over-the-top garishness of the production is so distracting that the great social themes of the day are almost completely lost.
However, I am not Nick Carraway and am not compelled to follow his father's advice that opens Fitzgerald's classic novel "The Great Gatsby".The first big problem with this movie version is that Tobey Maguire's Nick is not the same Nick that we know and love from the novel.
Nick is no longer our credible vantage point into the selfish, boorish ways of the old money and new money of Daisy, Tom, Jordan and Gatsby in East Egg and West Egg. Much has been said about the lavish style of the film's sets and imagery and even more about the ludicrous soundtrack.
Fitgerald's story, told from Nick's first-person point of view, was only as good as Nick's narration; Gatsby was only so great because Nick viewed him that way.Unfortunately, Maguire fell completely flat in his role as narrative guide.
But those scenes came across (at best) as heavy-handed expository or (at worst) as Maguire's uninspired take on an abridged audiobook version of "The Great Gatsby."I wanted to love this film.
The Great Gatsby is fascinating enough but it could have been much grander than what it was shown on screen.The film did follow the book, it takes a lot of time exploring its setting, characters, and conflict, but explores only little on what's beneath it.
There comes a time in a director's career when he or she may face one of the seemingly impossible cinematic feats: to make the movie better than the book.Director Baz Luhrmann accepted this challenge when he signed on to direct a new theatrical take of "The Great Gatsby." F.
Little does Carraway know that Gatsby acts this way in hopes of winning back Daisy's love despite five years of separation and her marriage to another man.Hoping to live up to its hype, the movie tries to be as fantastic and flawless as Gatsby himself.
i have no idea what DiCaprio was thinking signing up for this turd, but he mailed in his performance, as did Maguire, and who can really blame them?the movie turns Carraway and Gatsby into characters that might as well have come from some 'MTV Live' sketch show.
Not only were many key elements left out of the story, it's like it was produced by teenagers who work for Disney and have seen no other sort of film and have probably never read a book.
Really?FAIL!!Was the music of the era not good enough for the film makers that they had to drown the film in generic modern crap music?Why do directors think that everything needs to be current to be successful?Why do we need super fast editing as if we all have ADHD?Why do we need shaky cameras in every other scene?Yes, the movie has nice art direction, sets and costumes, but everything was lost the minute modern music started playing.
I had high expectations of this movie, with Leonardo Dicaprio playing Gatsby and the overall cast quite fitting for their roles.After the first 5 minutes, however, i was left completely disappointed.
All right, I could put up with that, "for Dicaprio"-I told myself, but as soon as the music played, i knew that this was going to be one of the movies which i would fast-forward in 15 minutes or so.HIp Hop, in a movie set in 1922, Beyonce, in a movie set in 1922.Music blaring into my ears and preventing me from concentrating on the movie.It was so bad, I had to register an account on IMDb, clicked on the review link for about 20 times because it kept asking me to confirm my email and finally writing down these words.Really, it's best you don't watch it at all..
Leonardo Dicaprio delivers a great performance as Gatsby, Tobey Maguire did great as Nick Carraway and Carey Mulligan was great as Daisy Buchanan.
Leonardo did his best but even he could not save this total flop of a movie.The lack of direction, the number of bloopers, the poor acting & casting, the weak script, ridiculous music and comic like cinematography all blended to aid in the demise of this venture.A worthwhile project, poorly executed and badly edited.Save your money, do not go and see this movie, you will regret every cent you spend on it.
Without wishing to give away too much, I found The Great Gatsby to have elements of a love story, a tragedy and (last but not least) a critique of a way of life having strong parallels with what is happening (in certain sections of society) in present times.
and i have managed to watch attack of the killer tomatoes one and a half times, which was previously the worst movie ever made.poorly directed if at all, unrealistic scenes & characters.
just watched 30 minutes of the new Great Gatsby movie and was not impressed at all.
It wasn't only that the characters where unlikable (I couldn't feel a grain of the empathy I felt when I was reading the novel, and Tobey Maguire as Nick Carraway is an awful cast), but the director thought it needed gang-rap during the lavish parties in the Gatsby mansion gang-rap?
Luhrmann didn't even try to stay period appropriate, because The Great Gatsby is a novel that transcends the time it was placed in.
Well, not this time.The story itself is typical Hollywood-style romantic-"drama", actually not that lame by default, but whoever wrote the script and done the directing, got the worst out of it.I felt like watching a 3rd category Brazilian soap-opera, where they drag every obvious step or act well beyond the border of annoyance.
Also I'd be surprised if DiCaprio (or anyone else) would get nominated for his acting.The worst thing in all is that there is no really action, just some trumped and endless suffering of some rich-ass people combined with abominably bad directing.I'd rather watch the Cloud Atlas (which was quite a pain as well) 10 times than this movie again.
There are some achievements, however, like some of the acting (I don't think De Caprio is that terrible, is just the entire thing what makes him look not convincing at times) and the girls are OK, as well as Buchanan and other minor characters.
I really enjoyed this film.On a separate note, I also really enjoyed the book.I am confused why a number of people are posting negative comments based on the fact that the movie didn't match identically to their interpretation of Fitzgerald's storyline/characters etc.
It has all the problems of Baz Luhrmann's Australia, the bad moments of Moulin Rouge (if there were ever that many in the first place) and the 20s never looked so odd in 3D, especially when Jay-Z provides some exclusive music for the movie.Everything from the music to the characters is just wrong.
There were some GREAT moments in the film; the scene where Daisy is invited to tea with Gatsby at Nick's house, was great.
I refuse to spoil the movie for those of you who've never heard of The Great Gatsby, but I can say this; you're going to be bored to tears that you'll be persuaded to walk out of the cinema.Not a good film, not rock bottom of the barrel either, but still bad nonetheless.
All I'm trying to do here is to give you some reasons why I think Luhrmann's The Great Gatsby is an exceptional film.Let's start from F.
His second, The Great Gatsby, sets his own cult.Again, I don't expect anyone to love the film the way I did.
The result is that literary adaptations all too often turn into stuffy affairs, with movie makers taking the safest possible approach to the material in an attempt not to offend anyone while still trying to make the piece work in an entirely different medium.All of this is prelude to saying that when it comes to Baz Luhrmann's adaptation of "The Great Gatsby," regardless of how one feels about the final product, one has to at least admire the chutzpah of the effort.
Luhrmann typically drenches his film in all sorts of visual razzmatazz, but the result is that the movie is so over-stylized that the characters are all too often reduced to caricatures and the whole thing to the level of a cartoon.
(I will say that Robert Redford cut a more impressive figure as Gatsby than Di Caprio does here).And there's one other thing that can be added to the movie's win column: its overall manic energy, which seems a direct attempt to avoid at all costs replicating the mistakes of the heavy, inert 1974 version.Luhrmann knows that he is treading on sacred ground here and he clearly doesn't care.
But while the movie indeed is beautiful (more on that later) it is also complex and emotional, and from when the movie picks up (I'd say this is when Gatsby and Daisy first meet at Nick's tea party) and onwards it's a near-perfect film.
Only in scenes with Gatsby is Nick an even vaguely interesting character, and this is undoubtedly due to the fact that DiCaprio is strong enough to carry both of them.Ever since I read the novel I have been aware of the depressing message that the story conveys.
The soundtrack is actually one of the main reasons that the movie feels current and inspiring in contrast to the at times dated novel.So no matter what critics have said I think "the Great Gatsby" is an amazing film.
This movie is not based on Fitzgerald's Great Gatsby - it was just inspired by it - as it has little less to nothing to do with the book.
I mean really Mr DiCaprio, you could have been in a great period film for The Great Gatsby, like Titanic (with its authentic look and feel).
My first review back is on the book made movie/remake of a literary classic: The Great Gatsby.
As for the rest of the cast well they did fine too, but I don't have time, nor do you want to hear me describe every single character.I did enjoy this remake of Gatsby very much, and thought it was a good movie to continue drawing people back to the movies.
Over all, the roles are played anemic, they don't come to live.The image/scenery is completely overdrawn, artificial, colors are so ridiculously unreal, it's too much.The sound/score simply does not fit the image and let them look like from a zobiesque comic-book.And, if you did yourself the treat of watching it in 3D, as I did: there were parts, that really made my partner and me feel sick, and it' weren't those "falling through the skyscrapers-scenes", but a bright light (from the light-bulb in front the buchanan-house) together with the unsharp foreground.
The newest adaptation of F Scott Fitzgerald's vastly well known novel, is directed by Baz Luhrmann, staring Leonardo DI Caprio as Gatsby, Carey Mulligan as daisy and Tobey Maguire as nick caraway.Most people will know the plot but for those that don't.....Nick caraway moves to new york trying to become a stockbroker in the mid 1920's but instead of working finds himself caught up alcohol fueled parties that were rife in the city.
There is no sense of the time period at all, with a bizarre modern day soundtrack booms out, which are good songs but not for The Great Gatsby, this makes the film feel like it is set in a club in the 21st century.
A.O. Scott's review in The New York Times, which includes this gem, "the best way to enjoy the film is to put aside whatever literary agenda you are tempted to bring with you." is an insult to the intelligence of any high school senior taking AP English, let alone self respecting adults who have loved the book from its opening pages.
Some of the worst things about it: Gatsby is portrayed like a pathetic wannabe Carey Mulligan looks like she's always about to break into tears - and no,her character isn't supposed to do that, that's just her face in every movie she's ever done None of the characters have any real form of substance - they're very superficially built The story has been turned into a compressed soap opera drama that probably wouldn't even impress a 12 year old Best part about this movie: pretty colours and once in a while some acceptable music.
The Great Gatsby is a film directed by Baz Luhrmann, and stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Tobey Maguire and Carey Mulligan.
Nick Carraway (Toby Maguire), cousin to the lovely Daisy Buchanan (Carey Mulligan), befriends his rich and mysterious neighbor, Jay Gatsby (Leonardo DiCaprio) and gets involved with his hedonistic lifestyle.
S. Fitzgerald's over 80 years old modern-classic novel in order to make cinema at its most magnificent, most excessive.This movie has such a great power of attraction you can hardly escape from, it's fast and dynamic - like a good party, and you as the viewer are in the center of all the exuberant happening revolving around you in a hurricane of glance and glamor; it smiles at you with a raised cocktail glass as Mr. Gatsby (Leonardo DiCaprio) did when he welcomed Nick Carraway (T.
If you're not familiar with the book you may question some of the stuff in the film, but I honestly think if you love the book, and have been waiting for a GREAT Gatsby movie (I didn't like the '74 one much) that is very true to the book, has some great acting (Leo's Oscar-worthy here, folks, and Mulligan, Maguire, and Edgerton give some of their best performances I've ever seen, and newcomer Elizabeth Debecki is just wonderful as Jordan Baker), beautiful visuals, fun music (the music here is cleverly done and didn't feel TOO out-of-place, and the mix of old-school and jazz symbolically works here in my opinion) and a basically over-all understanding of the book and it's meanings, I feel you will not be disappointed.Even as just a film, I do believe this film will become a true classic years from now, despite it's less-than-stellar box office intakes or poor-mixed reviews it's getting, I feel over time this will get good word of mouth and the general public MIGHT learn to love it over time.But we'll see.
And she is not as sympathetic and warm as she would like people to believe, and although this was portrayed by Mulligan, again Baz Luhrmann hammered it home too much instead of letting the script tell the story.I love Leonardo DiCaprio and all his work.
There's a scene I really liked where Gatsby meets Daisy for the first time in a while, DiCaprio's charm really makes that moment work.