Tuesday, May 21, 2013

The Great Gatsby - Movie Review

Firstly, why is this movie in 3D? I could not for the life of me figure out why I was sitting and watching this movie with those glasses on. The story unfolds as it does in the novel by Scott Fitzgerald, with the narrator recounting the circumstances in which he met  his rich, party-throwing neighbour Jay Gatsby at Long Island, New York in 1922 when there was money to be made everywhere and life was one big party.  Gatsby's party's were the biggest and the wildest of them all.

Tobey Mcguire fits the role of Nick Carraway perfectly. He is drawn into the lives of his pretty cousin Daisy and her husband and his old mate at college, Tom, lives which are unhappy despite their riches and filled with jealousy, resentment, cheating. An invitation from the elusive Mr. Gatsby to one of his parties opens up Nick to the real motives of why Gatsby is throwing parties - he loves Daisy and wants Nick to invite her home for tea so he could meet her. And from there on until the end it is a roller coaster ride of how Gatsby, the supposed black marketeer, murderer, soldier, goes about with his love and how most other seemingly honest and respectable people do not show even an iota of the character that he shows. It's an intense love story - no wonder they made six movies in Hollywood based on this novel including a 1974 one that starred Robert Redford. This one was stretched a bit, and I felt the part with Amitabh Bachchan was rather contrived and served little purpose.

Leonardo Di Caprio is fabulous as Gatsby and he seems to be excelling in this lost love themes - Titanic, Blood Diamond, Revolutionary Road and now this movie come to my mind. Tobey Macguire is perfect casting. Kind of slow, stretched and petering off to a slow and dull end. I'd miss it and not feel too bad about it. But if you read the novel, perhaps it might be worth a watch. Or even if the old world values make some sense to you..Else who in today's world would feel shocked at the ease with which people drop their loves and loyalties. 

1 comment:

Dan O. said...

Good review Harimohan. This is a book-to-film adaptation that may or may not win over fans of the book, but may just piss a lot of people off.