In high school, as a student, you are forced to read a large number of books. I have always enjoyed reading, yet some of them, admittedly, are awful. However, every so often a rare gem does pop up in the curriculum. One of the most profound examples is
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Filled with romance, corruption and greed in the 1920's , the novel follows a group of people, and their lives one summer, as they exemplify the american dream, corruption, and superficiality. Due to its universal themes, the book has become a classic that remains relevant from decade to decade. And so, as a result, there have been numerous film adaptations of the book, six to be exact. The most recent one is Baz Luhrmann's. Known for his hyper-stylized visuals and abrasive camera work, he puts his unique stamp on this classic story in the recent film starring Leonardo DiCaprio as Jay Gatsby, Tobey Maguire as Nick Caraway, the novel and film's narrator, Carrey Mulligan as Daisy Buchanan, Gatsby's lost love, and Joel Edgerton as Tom Buchanan, the now husband of Daisy. This film, filled with all of Luhrmann's traditional stylistic flairs, is able to remain a unique directorial vision, while simultaneously being the most accurate, and best adaptation of the novel put to film. For many reasons, including casting, musical choice and style, the movie is able to represent all the book's themes and messages accurately and cleverly in a way that makes
The Great Gatsby an accurate and fun book to screen adaptation. Let me start off my saying that from the first moment I picked up this book, I loved the character of Gatsby. Everything from his determined hopefulness to his suave persona had me invested in his character. So, when a new movie was announced my excitement and anticipation was based around the single detail of who would be playing Gatsby. It needed to be someone who could be cool, and play the rich popular man well, could play the "corrupt" businessman, yet still be innocent and partake in a believable romance. I was
not disappointed. Leonardo DiCaprio was able to bring all that and more to the part, bringing the part of Gatsby to life like I didn't think possible. He was able to convincingly seem innocent upon his reuniting with Daisy, but still dark while conversing with business partners over the phone. The character of Gatsby is one filled with the deepest and most profound hope, a hope to reclaim the past and be reunited with his true love, a woman, Daisy, that he had built an unreachable image of. When Gatsby needs to be hopeful, DiCaprio is hopeful, and makes you feel it. You hope he gets Daisy, and that he's able to be reunited with the one he loves. Also, the reveal of Gatsby in this movie has to be my favorite character reveal I have ever seen. The "cheesy" way in which he turns around, smiling, just as the song reaches a crescendo, and fireworks erupt in the background, makes for the most amazing moment in the film. The rest of the cast does a great job as well. Tobey Maguire plays Nick convincingly doing a good job with the weighty narration, and showing Nick's transition from wide eyed curiosity to his disappointment in humanity well. Joel Edgerton does his job fantastically coming off as a racist, cheating, brute, while Carrey Mulligan is able to play the soft voiced, superficial, Daisy extremely well. The rest of the cast all does a great job in filling out the supporting roles, but in comparison to DiCaprio, who steals every scene he's in, its hard for a comparison to even be made.
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