The Great Gatsby (2013)
Director: Baz Luhrmann
Starring: Leonardo di Caprio, Carey Mulligan, Tobey Maguire
So Aussie director Baz Luhrmann ("Moulin Rouge!" & "Australia," to name his best & worst efforts) thinks the great American novel of the 20th Century is missing something. So what does he add? Car chases and a hip-hop soundtrack. Oh, and he thinks filming it in 3-D is a good idea, too. All three additions are completely unnecessary, and the last two are an impediment to the storytelling. That said, this version of Gatsby is the most-faithful screen adaptation I have seen, because the one thing Baz does right is he makes liberal use of the text -- and no one can screw-up F. Scott's prose, right?
From the start, however, there is no doubt you are entering an artificial, CGI-fabricated wonderland that sprung from Tim Burton's imagination -- everything is too clear, too perfect, too MUCH. The mansions are bigger, the light sharper, the clothes crisper, and don't get me started on those curtains! Luhrmann stuffs the first hour of the film with so many tiresome 3-D tricks, it comes as a relief when the movie abandons them to concentrate on the story. The same can be said for the train-wreck of a soundtrack (the price paid for Jay-Z's producing credit, no doubt). It is not simply the anachronism of watching Twenties flappers dancing to Beyonce and sundry hip-hop 'grooves', it is that he doesn't pick a single style of music throughout. Instead, we get a mash-up of rap, pop ballads, Gershwin, melodramatic orchestrations, and (finally!) "flapper music." Notably, the climactic scene at the Plaza Hotel unfolds in blessed silence, proving that -- aside from the party scenes, which successfully convey the kinetic energy he was striving for throughout the film -- the remainder of the music was intrusive, not enhancing. In other words, "Mr. Carter, keep your day job."
For the most part, the actors overcome these obstacles and deliver strong performances. Leonardo di Caprio was BORN to play Gatsby (I am unapologetic in my admiration for his performance: his best since "Django Unchained" ... which was his last!). Carey Mulligan is not so obvious a choice as Daisy -- I can see Michelle Williams or Kirsten Dunst filling that role nicely -- but she was able to make her fragile and sympathetic, even with her jarring American accent. Supporting actress Elizabeth Debicki is a real find. The only performance I had a problem with was Joel Edgerton's unlikeable Tom Buchanan -- all smarmy with his pencil-thin mustache. (and I loved him in Zero Dark Thirty!).
Too bad Luhrmann didn't see a rough cut of Joss Whedon's magical, filmed-on-the-fly "Much Ado About Nothing" before he started filming. He would have seen how it is possible to film a literary classic IN YOUR OWN BACKYARD! Without diminishing the artistry of the source material at all. It has all the sponteneity of a high school production, with wit and physical comedy to spare. It is as if you are watching an outdoor production of Shakespeare in the Park. Like such a production, the performances are uneven, but the film is carried by the charming leads and their notable support: Amy Acker as Beatrice; Alexis Denisof as Benedick; Clark Gregg as Leonato; and Nathan Fillion (Castle himself!) as Dogberry. If, like me, you have never heard of these people, you need to rent old episodes of "Firefly."
Back to the review at hand, all the extraneous matter in Gatsby acts as a distancing device for the audience. How can you care about characters who exist in a world you know in your heart never existed? The intrusive Art Direction is exemplified by the metaphoric 'green light' -- in my imagination it is barely seen through the fog of Long Island sound. In this movie, it is so close to the opposite shore you can reach out and touch it! So bright, as an ever-present, computer-generated beacon, it would keep Nick Carraway up at night! Subtlety is not in Mr. Luhrmann's vocabulary. His art department did get the other metaphor right: the omnipresent optometrist's billboard is rendered in all its creepy glory. I'll bet it looks even creepier in 3-D!
