Since its original publication in 1925, there have been five film versions of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby,” among which is the famously unemotional snooze fest of 1974 starring Robert Redford and Mia Farrow.
But the most recent attempt is director Baz Luhrmann’s interpretation (“Moulin Rouge, “Romeo + Juliet”), and he doesn’t let you forget it — starting with an interesting choice to stray away from the novel’s storyline. We open with our narrator Nick Carraway, played by a listless Tobey Maguire, in a sanitarium for being “morbidly alcoholic.”
This story is not a grand romance, so a step outside of the lines is acceptable — the alteration serves as a clue for the unversed young-adult audience to which Luhrmann is pandering.
Nick is in therapy, but cannot seem to speak about everything that happened with Gatsby back in New York. His doctor suggests that he write about it and suddenly we’re in the past with Nick as he makes his arrival to Wall Street and West Egg, Long Island. While there is much visual layering at the start, it does not rival the cinematographic effects that ultimately distract from the story itself for the next hour.
We spend this hour kept at a distance, watching all of the pleasure and splendor of the time, but never immersing in any of it. The characters themselves are out of our reach: We see cousin to Nick and the first half of our star-crossed lovers, Daisy Buchanan (played by a depressed and pixie-like Carey Mulligan), momentarily at the start in an ethereal scene of white. She and Jordan Baker (Elizabeth Debicki) are quickly forgotten for Nick’s train ride with Daisy’s not-so-much-of-a-brute husband Tom (Joel Edgerton).
They stop momentarily in the Valley of Ashes to pick up a wildly gauche and flirtatious Isla Fisher as mistress Myrtle Wilson, to go into the city for the first party — one that never seems to stop.
And while the parties seem grand, we are simultaneously beat over the head with the iconic image of T.J. Eckleburg’s eyes — a strong visual from the book which becomes a tired motif in the film.
When we do get a glimpse of the notorious Gatsby, his face is hidden behind coy filming or set amidst the all-too-reoccurring scene of the green light at the end of the dock. It isn’t until Nick receives an invitation to an infamous Gatsby party that we get a chance to meet rags-to-riches Jay Gatsby, nee James Gatz. Leonardo Dicaprio plays the hopeful party host to a T, affected demeanor and his catchphrase “old sport” to boot.
Suddenly we’re taken to afternoon tea with Jordan Baker where it all makes sense to Nick: the connection between Daisy and Gatsby, a realization set inside a kitschy montage of the past. Nick plays the role of matchmaker and invites Daisy for tea so Gatsby can see her for the first time in five years (which they make sound like 50 years).
It is at this point that the film slows down enough for us to understand what is actually going on, but it’s too late. Halfway in, there are no emotional connections established which makes the rest of the film seem like a waste.
“It’s like an amusement park,” Nick says to Jordan in describing the infamous Gatsby party when he first attends, a comparison that could suit the entire film. Everything is glitz, glamour, and Jay-Z. Luhrmann does not hold back in showing us the hedonism of the Roaring 20s, but it comes across as an over-the-top spectacle with Luhrmann at center stage.
What else could Luhrmann do? He couldn’t take the same boring route as the 1974 adaptation, but went at it from an angle only he could. He gives us everything that we missed with Redford and much, much more, which will sit well with the 20-somethings who enjoy a good party and didn’t read the book back in high school.
But with little emotional depth, the film is more akin to a music video than an adaptation of a great American classic. It ends up as a singular reminder that nothing can do this novel justice — Fitzgerald’s writing skills are key to this magical story.
