This post will contain spoilers, so you might wanna see the film before reading.
The Great Gatsby
Mallory and I just finished seeing the film, and I think I’m still on a high from the experience. If you have been following the movie you know it was directed by Baz Luhrmann (Moulin Rouge, Romeo+Julien), and in that style he not only brought the book to life, but hyper realized the whole experience. This was one of those movies that I had to read the book before I saw the film (yes somehow I went though my entire school career and never read The Great Gatsby). I was incredibly impressed with how well the film followed the book almost word for word. Of course there where changes, because after all this is Hollywood- a visual representation. 
When I first saw the trailers for Gatsby last year I was very excited for the movie. I loved the look and feel of what was happening, the Moulin Rouge feel of grandness and slight impossibility. I was sad when they postponed the release until now, but that gave me time to read the book (that only took me a week…it was a long process actually buying the book). When I read the book I started to get that ominous feeling that the movie was going to be to grand and make a hard right turn from the book. Well I was very wrong. Oh it was very grand, but they followed the book almost to the letter. I say almost because they of course had to make changes. However, the movie in a way made the book make more sense. I’m a very visual person, and while I can have very clear mental images while reading a book this movie somehow brought it into a better perspective; clarity.
I loved the cinematography in this movie, the wardrobe, the pace, the cuts in footage to images of early 20th century and the mixture of era appropriate visuals. If you know me, you know I love the fantastical, the over the top and conceptual, and that’s exactly what this movie was to me. The acting was, in my opinion, great. I felt that each actor was able to capture what made the character in the book, in small ways and the obvious.
After the movie I came to Starbucks, because what else do I do with my life on the weekend right? HAHA well as luck would have it the Barista, Guy had seen the movie the night before. As we talked he brought up the one part of the movie he didn’t like, and come to think about it, it’s also the part of the movie I also didn’t care much for. I’ll preface this with the fact that I love the soundtrack, however there is a good majority of the songs that don’t fit the movie. You have the entire catalog of Jazz and romping 20’s era music that you could have chosen from, and instead you choose to play a modern day hip hop song in the middle of the movie…not as background noise, but as the song they are listening to in the car. It was hard for me to understand why they did that until you realize JayZ is one of the producers and then the entire soundtrack make complete sense. Again, I really do love the soundtrack, and I love what they did with the music giving it a 20’s feel, but still…come on.
Overall, however, I loved this movie. I will be buying it to add to my collection when it’s out, and I recommend you go see it…in 3D if you can. I’d give it a solid 4 out of 5 stars in my book, but I don’t think Leo will be winning an Oscar for it.
In case you need a roadmap to Gatsby.
Tagged: 1920's, Baz Luhrmann, Book, Hollywood, Movie, Music, The Great Gatsby
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