By Mia Fatuzzo ’15, News Section Editor
One of this year’s most anticipated films is finally here!
F. Scott Fitzgerald’s third novel, The Great Gatsby, was published in 1925 to limited commercial success. However, after Fitzgerald’s death fifteen years later, the novel began to gain appreciation and acclaim, and is now regarded as a classic of American literature. The cautionary portrayal of the American Dream has invaded our culture, spawning jewelry collections, designer clothes, and, of course, movie adaptations.
The most recent adaptation, directed by Baz Luhrmann, was released into theatres on May 10. The movie retains much of the original text, opening with the impressive “In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some
advice…,” and closing with the hopeful “So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.”
The primary actors remain true to the book in their portrayals of the characters. Leonardo DiCaprio’s Gatsby is fabulously wealthy and perpetually optimistic, uttering his distinctive “Old Sport” at every turn. Carey Mulligan is charming yet shallow as the beautiful Daisy Buchannan. She explained the interesting inspiration behind her portrayal in an interview with Vogue: “[Daisy] feels like she’s living in a movie of her own life. She’s constantly on show, performing all the time. …. She’s in her own TV show. She’s like a Kardashian.” Tobey Maguire plays Nick Carraway, the quiet and thoughtful young man adrift in a never-sleeping city from whose point of view the story is told. Joel Edgerton (Tom Buchanan), Isla Fisher (Myrtle Wilson), Elizabeth Debicki (Jordan Backer), and Jason Clarke (George Wilson) round out the rest of the cast.
Luhrmann’s portrayal of the novel is an absolute joy to watch. Every scene is beautiful – the water sparkles, the grass glows green, the fireworks nearly pop off the screen. Each member of the cast is perfectly outfitted in glorious 1920s fashion, from Daisy’s ethereal dresses to Nick’s smart cardigans and Gatsby’s expensive suits. The film is accompanied by an exhilarating soundtrack which artfully fuses traditional jazz with more modern hip-hop, rap, and pop. Bryan Ferry, with the Bryan Ferry Orchestra, did jazz covers of tunes such as “Crazy in Love” originally by Beyoncé and “Love is the Drug”, originally by Roxy Music. Artists such as Florence + The Machine, Lana Del Ray, Beyoncé, and Jay-Z (who was also an executive producer) collaborated on the more modern aspects of the soundtrack.
However, where The Great Gatsby excels visually and musically, it feels slightly hollow in that the subtle details of plot and intricate interactions of character that add so much to the novel are, in the movie, lost beneath a spectacle of flashing lights and fireworks. Nick’s romantic involvement with Jordan becomes difficult to see, and Klipspringer, a small but significant character in the book, disappears into the mass of Gatsby’s fair-weather friends. We see so little of Myrtle’s husband George that his final and fatal decision becomes difficult to understand. The book, which developed the characters further, better depicted the similarities between the Gatsby and George – each a dreamer ruined by his unrequited love.
But if The Great Gatsby isn’t your type of movie, don’t worry! There are plenty of other great movies slated for release this summer:
Star Trek Into Darkness, the twelfth installment of the Star Trek franchise, was released on May 17. Directed by science fiction enthusiast J. J. Abrams, the movie follows Captain Kirk (Chris Pine) and the Enterprise on a hunt to capture a one man weapon of mass destruction named Khan (Benedict
Cumberbatch).
If you prefer cartoons over Klingon, Monsters University may be the choice for you. With a release date of June 21, you have just weeks to wait until you can see what Mike and Sulley of Pixar’s beloved Monsters, Inc. were like during their days at university.
Finally, if you’re looking for fun in the form of five cute boys, One Direction’s documentary, cleverly entitled One Direction: This Is Us, is set to be released August 30. The film, part documentary and part concert movie, will go behind the scenes, following the boys as they traverse the globe while on tour.
Photo courtesy of www.imdb.com