![]() ![]() Luhrmann, I think, wants to believe in that undercut sacredness, as is his right. If I can indulge in the new fashion for self-plagiarism, a couple of weeks ago I wrote this about the novel in reference to the 1974 Robert Redford–Mia Farrow Gatsby: I suspect Luhrmann was alluding to the voyeuristic fascination white people had for black culture in the 1920s (and most every other decade), but the jazz-blowing cliché who showed up with his trumpet on the fire escape across the alley every time the film moved uptown felt more like old-school exotic “color” than contemporary insight. When fireworks went off at one of Gatsby’s parties, did they have to be accompanied by the same passage from “Rhapsody in Blue” that Woody Allen used to score the fireworks over the cityscape in the opening of Manhattan? Gatsby’s castle-like home seemed an intentional visual reference to Charles Foster Kane’s Xanadu, while Nick’s little rental home next door looked like it had been brought over on a truck bed from the Shire. DiCaprio has also gotten just a teeny bit fleshy as he’s aged-as have we all-and that helped give his performance an air of both self-satisfaction and mortal vulnerability, a quality that is particularly resonant here.Īt times, there was a bit too much rummaging in the vintage Hollywood attic. DiCaprio is a much, much, much better actor than O’Neal was, but Stanley Kubrick not only fulfilled a commercial imperative by casting O’Neal but also made an inspired artistic choice, because the actor’s stiff hollowness was a perfect fit with the title character’s. The performance reminded me of Ryan O’Neal in Barry Lyndon, a film I love (another minority opinion). But of course that works for Gatsby, a man who is nothing but a role. ![]() I know this is a minority opinion, and I haven’t always loved him in the past-I often feel like I can sense his efforts at acting, at filling up a role. Leonardo DiCaprio makes a terrific Gatsby. Screech! Thud! That particular car was a subtler, more luxe, and possibly more symbolic “cream” in the novel, but of course taxi yellow pops onscreen, which was surely Luhrmann’s intent, and so the color itself becomes a symbol of what’s both right and wrong with this movie.Ī few random, raw, conflicted observations: But then-maybe it was when the screenplay invented a dopey, One Life to Live–worthy backstory for the mysterious title character, or maybe it was when Nick’s voice-over narration barged in on a key moment to tell us that Daisy’s tears were shed over the awe-inspiring profundity of Gatsby’s love (not just because she had never seen “such beautiful shirts”)-the movie, for me, careened out of control, like Gatsby’s taxi-yellow automobile with Daisy at the steering wheel. The movie gives you a pleasant buzz-just shy of a headache-as if you yourself have been guzzling Gatsby’s champagne and stuffing yourself on his canapés. But if someone was determined to make one, he or she couldn’t have done much better than this. At some point it did occur to me to wonder whether or not the world really needs a cartoon, elbow-to-the-ribs version of Gatsby. IPad 3, iPad 4, iPad Air, iPad iPad, iPad Mini 2, iPad Mini 3, iPad Mini 4, 9.I rolled along happily with Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby for two thirds or so of its fizzy, just over two-hours length. IPhone 12 Pro Max, iPhone 13 Pro Max, iPhone 14 Plus: 1284x2778 IPhone Xs Max, iPhone 11 Pro Max: 1242x2688 IPhone X, iPhone Xs, iPhone 11 Pro: 1125x2436 IPhone 6 plus, iPhone 6s plus, iPhone 7 plus, iPhone 8 plus: 1242x2208 IPhone 6, iPhone 6s, iPhone 7, iPhone 8: 750x1334 IPhone 5, iPhone 5s, iPhone 5c, iPhone SE: 640x1136 ![]() IPhone: iPhone 2G, iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS: 320x480 ![]()
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