The Great Gatsby

Bea says:  A work colleague recently described Baz Luhrmann to me as "like Marmite - you either love him or hate him".  I am definitely in the former camp, and , atlhough I've actually never seen Moulin Rouge, I have seen all of Baz's other films and loved every one of them.  I love his quirky style and the visual spectacule they always are.  I was eager to see The Great Gatsby and from the very first minute I was spellbound.

It has been a long time since I read the book (I was 15), and although I really wanted to like it at the time, I kind of didn't get it.  Watchng the film now, I realise why - this story is about damage, regret, obsession, marriage, divorce and death.  At 15 I didn't know anything about these things, but now, much later in my life, they resonate and I want to return to the book and read it again.  Amongst the (many) criticisms I have heard of this film is that it doesn't remain very true to the book, but that doesn't always worry me in film - it is a very different way of telling a story after all.

Another criticism has been of the use of modern music - but I thought that worked really, really well (I thougtht that in Romeo + Juliet too).  The excess of the 1920s parties made to look both like 1920s parties but also like the excesses of the superclubs of Ibiza was just amazing - literally my jaw dropped.  It has I think been said before, but the similarities of this period to ours currently is striking - atlhough not something I had realised before seeing this. 

The costuming (in part the main reason I wanted to go) was fabulous, the sets surreal and beautiful, and with enough reference to the things I remembered from the book - Gatsby on the dock, staring across the water, and the Ziegfield Follies.  It was wonderful, a cinema experience I have rarely, if ever, had and what it must have been like to see Gone with the Wind or some such for the first time at a cimena.  I know that is what Luhrmann is usually trying to do, and he does it, so well.

Wonderful. Marvellous.  I haven't a bad word to say about any of it. DiCaprio is good. Mulligan is better than I thought she'd be.  See it - a life lived in fear is a life half lived, after all.
*****

Cecil says: Well, I hated Moulin Rouge so when I heard it had been made by the same director, I was a bit nervous of this film, especially with lots of the critics saying it was full of OTT scenes from the 1920s.

But then I did like Luhrmann's Australia, and one of my favourite films ever is Strictly Ballroom, and I hadn't realised Luhrmann had made that one.

If you're a fan of Strictly Ballroom, though, you'll remember that key line which Bea reminded us of at the end of her review. Well, right at the start of The Great Gatsby, as they open with a Metropolis-style screen-filler, you'll see the same life-message circling the initials JG, suggesting Luhrmann has found another character who can embody one of his favourite mottos.

We saw this film at the wonderful Regent Cinema on Redcar beach. As we left this rusting hulk of a cinema at sunset, the 21st century wind farm was filling the horizon in one direction, while the 19th century-looking industrial complex of Redcar's steel works belched its fumes out over the seaside views.

It felt like a continuation of the set of Luhrmann's film. Great choice of venue to see a great film.

I liked Mulligan more than diCaprio, actually. Not sure why they casted someone British to play an American role, but hey it's been done the other way round, so why not?

And it could just be that DiCaprio's Gatsby was supposed to be someone you couldn't warm to; someone fake. So maybe it's acted well. Not sure.

There's lots more to say about this film; we were still discussing it 12 hours after we left the cinema (granted, a night's sleep in between). But I think I'll stop here.

I wasn't quite to overwhelmed as Bea, but I'd definitely recommend it and go in Redcar, while you still have the chance.

****