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Film: The Great Gatsby (2013)

Cast includes: Leonardo DiCaprio (Titanic), Joel Edgerton (Zero Dark Thirty), Toby Maguire (Spider-Man)
Director: Baz Luhrmann (Moulin Rouge!, Australia)
Genre: Drama | Romance (143 minutes) Based an F. Scott Fitzgerald novel

“I always try to see the best in people, but even I have a limit,” Nick tells the doctor. “I became disgusted with everyone. Only one man is exempt. That’s Gatsby… the most hopeful man I’m ever likely to meet.” Nick takes us back to the summer of 1922, when new money and booze were flowing. He got a job in New York City and rented a small house in West Egg, Long Island… right next to a colossal castle owned by someone named Gatsby. His curiosity is peeked when he gets a dinner invitation from his cousin Daisy in East Egg, directly across the sound. We see Daisy’s diamonds before we actually see the enchanting Daisy. Nick also meets a social climbing friend who suggests, “You must know Gatsby.” “Gatsby? What Gatsby?” Daisy asks. Daisy’s husband, Tom, has nothing but contempt for the nouveau riche over there in West Egg. It’s strictly old money in East Egg. “Civilization is going to pieces.” Daisy points out that her husband reads “deep books with long words.” A phone call from the “garage” is obviously from Tom’s mistress, and Daisy knows it. “Bright things fade and they don’t come back,” she tells Nick. Back home, Nick sees a man on Gatsby’s dock… “He seemed to be reaching for something in the dark.”

The “Valley of Ashes,” on the way into the city, halfway between East and West Egg, is a place one usually passes through quickly. But when Tom invites Nick to join him for lunch, they unexpectedly stop there. That’s when Nick meets Mrs. Wilson, Tom’s mistress. Against his better judgment, Nick allows himself to be drawn in. He eventually finds himself “within and without… enchanted and repelled”… keeping Tom’s secrets… not really wanting to. Another social connection opens when Nick receives an invitation to a party at Gatsby’s. He learns that everyone else simply shows up without an invitation. It’s a loud kaleidoscopic affair, where a riotously good time is had by all… but no one actually knows Gatsby or anything about him. “He’s a German spy… he killed a man… he doesn’t actually exist…” But he does exist and Nick meets him. In fact, Gatsby tells Tom a fair amount about himself. “I didn’t want you to think I was a nobody. I’m going to make a very big request of you, Old Sport.” The request is going to involve Daisy, and once again, Nick will find himself “within and without.”

This is the 5th movie based on F. Scott Fitzgerald’s 1925 novel. Obviously the rich visual elements appeal to filmmakers, and there will probably never be a filmmaker who exploits them more aggressively than Baz Luhrmann. Not everyone will enjoy a film that’s as unapologetically gaudy as this Gatsby. But that said, it’s not just the visual effects that make this a good movie. In addition to good casting and acting, this Gatsby has an excellent script with many thought provoking social concepts unfolding as the story develops. When the book was first released, its sales were lackluster. Perhaps Fitzgerald was ahead of the curve, recognizing new trends in the American social landscape. Despite it’s being a period piece, most of the social concepts are as relevant today as they were nearly 100 years ago. Gatsby believes anything is possible. Tom pronounces him “Mr. Nobody from Nowhere… Nothing you do or dream up can ever change that.” There’s a fairytale quality to this Gatsby… making it all the more dramatic when reality crashes in.

4 popped kernels

A self-made man goes to extremes to win back the woman he loves

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