The Great Gatsby (5/5 Stars)

Those familiar with the art of director Baz Luhrman have generally had to meet him halfway. For many artists the old ‘meet halfway” is usually not worth the trip. Greatness or the lack thereof though not entirely causal is highly correlated with accessibility. But Baz is one of those exceptions; the shortcomings of his movies (Strictly Ballroom, Romeo and Juliet, Moulin Rouge) in terms of believable human emotion and orderly plot rhythm are oftentimes successfully offset by the larger than life ambition of his musical numbers and the overall gorgeousness of the production (costumes, sets, cast, and etc.) One cannot say that his approach makes perfect movies. Moulin Rouge, being a very good example, has as many awkward transitions and stilted drama as incredible moments of inspired grandeur. The silly and great existed not only in the same movie but also sometimes within the same scene for instance when two middle-aged men sing and dance Madonna’s “Like a Virgin,” surely one of the more unforgettable scenes I have ever seen.

It is my pleasure then to announce that The Great Gatsby largely avoids Baz’s regular pitfalls and it does so by strictly adhering to the superior writing of F. Scott Fitzgerald, whose book this movie very faithfully adapts. It is not much to say that F. Scott Fitzgerald is a better writer than Baz Luhrman. Most everybody is. It means far more to say that Fitzgerald’s words can complement the visual ambitions of Baz because like Moulin Rouge and his previous movies, The Great Gatsby is something of an orgiastic delight of colorful sensations, including an extended look at one of the more incredible parties I have ever witnessed in a movie. (For those that thought the Miami sleaze-fest in this year’s Spring Breakers looked like fun, they need to take a gander at what a real party looks like. Sure the version of Jay Gatsby’s continual party at his long island mansion is probably unapproachable in real life, but it still contains several nostalgic elements we seem to have completely lost in the 21^st century i.e. parties where people dress up and not way-way down and actually know how to dance.) There is an especially inspired moment in The Great Gatsby that introduces the enigmatic Jay Gatsby (played by Leonardo Dicaprio) after much hype to the climatic swell of George Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue” while a multitude of fireworks explode in the distance. As far as first impressions a la Baz go, I would rate it just as high as when Romeo first spies Juliet through a fish aquarium in Romeo +Juliet.

The best of Fitzgerald’s writing is preserved through the narration of Nick Caraway (played by Tobey Maguire) and seamlessly interweaves itself with the extremely restless camera of Baz as it does such 3D contortions as starting at the top of the Empire State Building and descending till it ends with a close up on Nick Caraway’s upward looking gaze on the street. At another time the camera will travel unbrokenly between Jay Gatsby’s nouveu riche mansion to across the bay where his romantic obsession Daisy Buchanan lives with her aristocratic husband (played by Joel Edgerton) in her own mansion. This may seem a bit much, but on the other hand it is not like Baz is adapting Ernest Hemingway here. If you want to see a Hemingway-esque movie, go see Jeff Nichol’s Mud. Here we are adapting F. Scott Fitzgerald, whose books unapologetically overflow with the kind of flowery vocabulary that makes it a perfect fit for what Baz likes to do.

I suppose now it is the point of the review where I rewrite my high school book report. I will try to do a better job of it this time. I cannot recall saying anything that insightful back then.

The Great Gatsby is narrated by a young man named Nick Caraway who moves to New York City during the roaring twenties and takes a Wall Street job. Right next door to Nick is the Gatsby estate where endless parties go on almost every night though no one quite sure knows why. Gatsby is a ghost at his parties. Most partiers never see him. One day, Nick gets an invitation. Weirdly when he shows up, he finds he is the only person to get an invitation. What’s more is that the reclusive Gatsby wants to meet him. Gatsby puts on quite a show and story for Nick. Gatsby is from a highly respectable family who are all dead now that sent him to the best schools and such. Then he went to war in WWI and became a war hero. Nick, who unbeknownst to Gatsby is a down to earth guy, is surprised even more to find out the reason he is being treated to such a display. Jay Gatsby is in love with his cousin Daisy Buchanan, a woman who rejected him once because he was too poor. He wants Nick to ask Daisy to meet him for tea, nothing else. That is what all the parties were for. He was throwing them just to entice Daisy to show up. And when she never did, he invited Nick. There is a great scene where an especially nervous Jay finally asks Nick to ask Daisy to tea and thinks it is necessary to sweeten the deal by offering Nick connections to all his Wall Street buddies. But Nick declines the offer. He will do it as a favor. Imagine Jay’s surprise. Nobody in the “respectable society” he is so desperately trying to shoehorn into never once did anything for free or as a friend.

What are we to think of Gatsby? This is a question that the whole country wants each and every young citizen to contemplate. Here is a man that embodies so many of the contradictory values of America. He comes from a poor family and worked hard to make his fortune, but he lies about his past and presents a consumerist façade of aristocracy and easy living. His great ambition and individuality have led to success, but it is accomplished by being a bootlegger with shady acquaintances. He is driven by love, hope, and idealism, but his dreams are unrealistic and ultimately illusory.  He is rich. He is kind. He is handsome. He is a criminal. He is a home wrecker. He is a phony. But importantly, F. Scott Fitzgerald chose to write of Gatsby through the eyes of Nick Caraway, a character whose realness is undeterred by the sound and fury of the Roaring Twenties. We see Gatsby clearly through Nick the way no other person in the story does. Gatsby does much that is corrupt but his ultimate purpose is incorruptible. Everything he does, he does for love, and this he proves beyond a doubt when he is prepared to take a manslaughter charge for an undeserving woman right after she rejects him. There is much about Gatsby that we may sneer at but Nick Caraway remembers his father’s advice once passed down to him a long time ago, to always look for the good in people. And that special type of good Nick sees in Gatsby stands tall amidst all the fucking shit he imposed on his life and all that life imposed on him. That is what made the man Great.