Film Review. The Great Gatsby

Recently, I have watched the film «The Great Gatsby ». Now I would like to tell a few words about this film.

Cast:

Leonardo DiCaprio as Jay Gatsby
Tobey Maguire as Nick Carraway
Carey Mulligan as Daisy Buchanan
Joel Edgerton as Tom Buchanan
Isla Fisher as Myrtle Wilson
Elizabeth Debicki as Jordan Baker
Adelaide Clemens as Catherine
Jason Clarke as George Wilson
Amitabh Bachchan as Meyer Wolfsheim
Max Cullen as Owl Eyes
Brendan Maclean as Klipspringer
Jack Thompson as Nick Carraway's Doctor, Walter Perkins
Gemma Ward as Languid Girl
Callan McAuliffe as Young Jay Gatsby
Gus Murray as Teddy Barton
Stephen James King as Nelson
Director: Baz Luhrmann

Synopsis: A Midwestern war veteran finds himself drawn to the past and lifestyle of his millionaire neighbor.

Review: This film is really a masterpiece, as the book of Fitzgerald is. I was really excited when the film was shown. I was waiting for it. t's the first movie I've ever seen in 2D that I wished I'd seen in 3D which I generally don't rate.

Leonardo DiCaprio is superb in the lead role as the mysterious millionaire with everything money can buy - except for Daisy (Carey Mulligan), the girl he loved and lost, who's now unhappily married to the philandering Tom Buchanan (Joel Edgerton). Meanwhile Tobey Maguire looks suitably perplexed as conflicted narrator Nick Carraway, Daisy's aspiring-writer cousin who's equally repulsed and intoxicated by the elite new world in which he finds himself. When Gatsby and Daisy rekindle their relationship, it sets in place a crash course of events - with dramatic consequences for everyone around them... 

While the acting's all well and good, the success of this new adaptation is less about its shallow characters and more about the spectacular visuals: think glorious colours, elaborate costumes and dazzling set pieces. This is unmistakably a Luhrmann movie, with clear shades of his other hits - from the bohemian decadence of Moulin Rouge to the forbidden romance of Romeo + Juliet (plus, of course, DiCaprio breaking hearts again, looking barely a day older than he did in the 1996 film) - and it's hard to tear your eyes away from the energy on screen. (However, for that same reason I'd have preferred to see it in 2D than 3D; there's only so much detail you can take in at once, without it leaping out at you as well.)

The soundtrack is also fabulous, making 20s masterpieces like Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue seem contemporary while giving pop classics a delightfully retro twist. Our favourites were Emeli Sandé's cover of Beyoncé's Crazy in Love and Beyoncé's take on Back to Black (if that sounds like a lot of Beyoncé for one film, bear in mind her hubby Shawn 'Jay-Z' Carter is one of the executive producers).

Some have called The Great Gatsby a triumph of style over substance - and ultimately that may be true. But what a triumph of style it is.

I thought the modern soundtrack was subtly used and the ending was so, so sad. Brilliant!

The novel has so many gaps the reader can fill with his/her own emotions and ideas... Daisy's voice that is so alluring, Gatsby's smile... and of course a movie takes away a lot of gaps... but to leave us there in the dark at the end, with the green light shining from the screen towards the audience... Turning us into Gatsby... Longing... Reaching... Leaving everyone alone with their lack, their dreams... That was great...
Well... yeah I liked it. :-)