The Great Gatsby

Luhrmann brings Gatsby’s lavish parties to life with thumping hip-hop beats and a visual splendour of showering confetti

Photo courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures – © 2012 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc

You can tell a Luhrmann film from a mile away. Whether it is due to the pop soundtrack, the flashy colour palette, the MTV style editing or the handful of Australian cast members that permeate his production, his style is recognisably bold and audacious. The Australian director now tackles the great American novel and drenches it in champagne and showering confetti. But that is not to dismiss Baz, for there is something to be said for his grandiose comic style. Although glaring, his sensibility appears suited to a story about the rich, the vain and the morally duplicitous.

Tobey Maguire plays Nick Carraway, a young man from the Midwest who has moved to New York to seek fortune in the bond business. He rents a cottage next to a mansion occupied by Gatsby (Leonardo DiCaprio), a man of great wealth, known for his extravagant parties. Luhrmann brings Gatsby’s lavish lifestyle to the big screen with thumping hip-hop beats, visual splendour and unlimited amounts of alcohol. The film itself is roaring drunk, never giving a moment of respite to the actors who, although well cast, are sometimes overshadowed by the excess. Maguire’s voice-over is used to narrate the tale, and at choice moments, Fitzgerald’s writing appears around him, floating onscreen before dispersing into mist. At times this device comes off as unsubtle and too literal - we can see Leonardo’s smile without Nick having to describe it as ‘one of those rare smiles that you may come across four or five times in life’.

Leonardo DiCaprio is smartly cast as Jay Gatsby, a man of mystery whose illusive past pervades him, while Carey Mulligan’s charming and sweet exterior rightly shadows Daisy’s aloofness. And though Mulligan and DiCaprio perform decently, there is a shortage of convincing chemistry between the two and a real lack of empathy on our part, especially given the tragedy that ensues. Of the deluded romance on which the entire story turns, Fitzgerald himself admitted, “I gave no account and had no feeling about or knowledge of the emotional relations between Gatsby and Daisy”. There’s a detached humanness not only between the pairing onscreen, but also between the world they inhabit and their audience.

Luhrmann’s colourful creation is unauthentically glossy; the houses are grander than Buckingham Palace, the festivities larger than life and Gatsby’s castle looks like an amusement park. Even the green light shines neon emerald like a laser light. The over-the-top art directed kitsch is ripe to the edge of rotten to emphasise the gloriously wealthy and shallow lifestyle these characters lead. Costume and production designer Catherine Martin should be commended for the costumes which are impeccably mounted and the sets which are exquisite. But perhaps this is the point: To accept Fitzgerald’s Gatsby as great - both the novel and the film - one must recognise the story as being rich in colourful symbolism but low in realism. While there are moments in Luhrmann’s adaptation that border on cringe worthy - how many times must the camera race at light speed across the bay and towards the green light at the end of Daisy’s dock? - for every over-the-top CGI crane shot there is equally a visual gamble that pays off. In a defining cataclysmic event that includes a bright yellow car and the ever-watching eyes of T.J Eckleberg, Luhrmann’s style transcends gimmickry to become one of the most memorable moments in the movie.

Of the solid supporting cast, the real star in the mix is Joel Edgerton who perfectly brings Tom Buchanan to life as if he has risen from Fitzgerald’s prose. His controlling ownership and treatment of Daisy, like a prize to be won, is a spot-on interpretation of Tom’s chauvinistic and brutish attitude. Elizabeth Debicki is equally impressive as the statuesque and cold Jordan Baker who ironically may be the most human of the bunch.

While Luhrmann’s Gatsby is a spectacle and may be the most loyal adaptation to date, there remains a lacking human element that keeps Gatsby from being great. DiCaprio’s portrayal of the man in the pink suit is every bit as polished as we have come to expect, perhaps too polished, for there is a disparaging and suspicious aspect to the character that we don’t see until very late. Although grandiose, Luhrmann’s literal interpretation leaves little to the imagination. Somewhere in Fitzgerald’s book there is a darker, more definitive film version waiting to be made.