Image Credit: The Common
“His smile was one of those rare smiles that you may come across four or five times in life. It seemed to understand you and believe in you just as you would love to be understood and believed in.”
- Nick Carraway
Movie In a Sentence: Gatsby is at heart a story of class warfare, disguised as a doomed love affair.
The Curtain-Raiser
The majority of book-to-film adaptations fall into one of the two categories: the movies are usually bad. However, the film can often be as good as, if not better than, the original text!
My favourite movie of all time is the 2013 adaptation of The Great Gatsby, which is tied with The Dead Poet Society. The acting was brilliant, the cinematography was spectacular, and the writing style was phenomenal!
"In my younger and more vulnerable years, my father gave me some advice. "Always try to see the best in people", he would say. As a consequence, I'm inclined to reserve all judgements. But even I have a limit."
- Nick Carraway (opening lines- Tobey Maguire)
With its scenes, dialogues, and soundtracks, this film will go down in history as a classic. ‘Love is Blind’ is a heartbreaking tale about the ‘American Dream for Love’.
Introduction
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| Image Credit: Nerd Span |
I knew it was a great mistake for a man like me to fall in love…
-Jay Gatsby
Release date - 17 May 2013 (India)
Genre - Drama, Romance
Adapted from - The Great Gatsby
Director - Baz Luhrmann
Stars - Leonardo DiCaprio, Carey Mulligan, Joel Edgerton
Produced by - Baz Luhrmann; Catherine Knapman; Douglas Wick; Lucy Fisher; Catherine Martin
Rating - PG-13
Once you've seen Lurhmann's "Strictly Ballroom," "Romeo + Juliet," or "Moulin Rouge," or even seen "Gatsby" trailers, you know what to expect: an epic melodrama that blends old-movie theatrics and subjective film making, period music and contemporary pop, actual sets and surreal environments, psychological tension and sped-up slapstick.
Elevator Pitch
An adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel set on Long Island, in which Midwesterner Nick Carraway is drawn into the extravagant paradise of his neighbour, Jay Gatsby. Carraway, on the other hand, will soon see through the cracks of Gatsby's nouveau riche life, where madness, obsession, and tragedy await.
Plot Synopsis
Gatsby was born in North Dakota to a poor rural family. He falls in love with Daisy at a party shortly before attending WW I. Daisy belongs to high society, while Gatsby is poor and uneducated. Despite this, they make a vow to marry when the war is over.
“I hope she'll be a fool -- that's the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool.”
-Daisy
-F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
When he returns, he discovers that she is married to another wealthy man, Tom. He's a racist. He's even cheating on Daisy with Myrtle, the wife of poor garage owner George. Daisy does not seem to be in love with Tom, nor does she mind Tom's cheating on her.
But Gatsby is madly fascinated with her love, and he believes that if he is also rich and powerful, he will be able to win Daisy back. ‘Will’, his childhood obsession, begins to move. So he becomes filthy rich in some way (mostly illegally). He purchases a château on the opposite side of the bay from Daisy's home.
The party scenes at the château are a display of the might of American capitalism. I am not aware of any other film that depicts the cheerful, hopeful, and lavish sphere of the 1920s economic boom days.
Gatsby exists in two universes. One is the stressful illegitimate world of running and maintaining a company when dealing with criminals. The other is a childlike optimist who is madly in love with Daisy.
Later in the movie, Gatsby meets Daisy at Nick's small home, which is located just beside his château. Then their affair begins. Now Nick is Daisy's distant cousin and Tom's pal from Yale.
It's unknown to readers how Nick ended up staying in a house next to Gatsby's château but it is because of this proximity that Gatsby meets Nick, and he inquires about the Tea Party arrangements with Daisy.
Nick appears in almost every scene. He portrays himself as a natural impartial observer, keeping an equal distance from everyone and having trust of everyone. Tom, Daisy, and Gatsby all adore him. He attends all social gatherings. I believe the audience feels the same way about Nick. The film's most famed and loved character.
Official Spoiler Alert: Don't Read the Next Para to Avoid Major Spoilers
However while Gatsby is waiting for Daisy to answer his phone call, he is shot and killed by George, the poor garage owner. One feels heartbroken, as well as sympathetic for Gatsby's naive hope that becoming wealthy would be enough to win her back.
Quirky Highlights from the Movie
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| Image Credit: Imdb |
It's so sad, because it's so hard to make her understand. It's so hard to make her understand. I've gotten all these things for her. I've gotten all these things for her and now she just... she just wants to run away.
-Jay Gatsby
-F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
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| Image Credit: IMDb |
“And I like large parties. They’re so intimate. At small parties there isn’t any privacy.”
-F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
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Image Credit: Alamy |
“Let us learn to show our friendship for a man when he is alive and not after he is dead.”
-F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
Image Credit: Sify
"Life is something you dominate, Nick. If you're any good."
-Tom Buchanan
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| Image Credit: IMDb |
“All the bright precious things fade so fast, and they don't come back.”
- Daisy Buchanan (Carey Mulligan)
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| Image Credit: Hidden Remote |
“- Tom Buchanan: Daisy, can't you see who this guy is, with his house and his parties and his fancy clothes? He is just a front for Wolfsheim, a gangster, to get his claws into respectable folk like Walter Chase.
- Jay Gatsby: The only respectable thing about you, old sport, is your money. Your money, that's it. Now I've just as much as you. That means we're equal.”
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| Image Credit: Google |
“I knew that when I kissed this girl, I would be forever wed to her.”
-Jay Gatsby (Leonardo Dicaprio )
In Depth Contemporary and Character Analysis
In this film, Baz Luhrmann has truly upstaged himself. The casting is stunning, as is the script. The visual feast continues with the scenes. It's as if Luhrmann reached into Fitzgerald's vision of the 1920s, extracted the heart of it, and combined it to what society is now, more than nine decades later.
Besides the individual conflict, we see societal injustice, drug and alcohol abuse, moral and political misconduct, and financial institutions' inability to fulfill their responsibilities to the public. This film will leave you with the impression that these topics will never go out of trend, and that not much changes from generation to generation.
DiCaprio gives an outstanding performance as the achingly romantic and ambitious Gatsby. The film might reawaken a memory of a time when you were crazy in love with someone or with a notion as to what your life should be. Even though he is shown to be a fraud, DiCaprio represents a dream and ends up making you cheer for him.
The Bottom Line
Image Credit: Forbes
“Tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther and one fine morning. So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.”
- Nick Carraway (last lines- Tobey Maguire)
So after watching the film twice, I'm astonished by how lovely the soundtracks, the Jazz and Blues music were then. Lying on the couch, one can listen to "Young and Beautiful" by Lana Del Rey and "Back to Black" by Beyoncé for hours. The tune of these two songs, I believe, is the story line of this film.
It's that kind of film that leaves you gawking at the screen after it ends, enraged enough to scream internally, wishing you could punch any of the characters in the face for such an ending.
My ratings for the movie - 4.8 on 5
Written By - Prakriti Chaudhary
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