I finished re-reading The Great Gatsby today and was in the mood for analysis, discussion, and more interpretations. So I started watching the 2013 version with Toby and Leo. Got about 20 minutes in before the stream froze to buffer and I decided it wasn’t worth trying to get worth working again.
The movie was a fever dream. The editing was so frantic I couldn’t get a feel for a scene before it blew by. The CGI was gratuitous and unattractive! From a book reader perspective it was unfaithful to the novel, and from a cinema perspective it was a toad in a blender.
I’d love to hear some positive criticisms of the movie adaptation - maybe someone saw something in it that I didn’t.
I’d also enjoy any reviews of the previous version from decades ago.
One last thing, I think the movie would have worked much better if it was placed in 2002 - similar positivity on life, “great” war for Americans, and a looming financial crisis. It would have made the weird editing make much more sense, kind of like the remake of Romeo and Juliet (coincidentally starring Leo)
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It is a Baz Luhrmann film, he definitely has a style and it isn’t for everyone.
Look at Moulin Rouge and Elvis, they are hyper stylized, over the top and thus they get mixed reviews.
Yeah I watched the movie a few days after reading the book and… I struggled to make any real connections between them.
Like Leo’s Romeo+Juliet movie, a ‘modern reimagining’. I think it’s a neat idea on paper, but it didn’t work for these two movies, in my opinion.
The Gatsby movie was all about the excess and money spending at the parties i guess. It didn’t balance it out with the rest of the books themes so it just comes across as flat.
I know the movie isn’t for everyone but I really enjoyed it. I thought it really captured the whirlwind feel of the era with the grand visuals and kickass soundtrack. The story made sense and was about as good as anyone could have done with a movie and not a 1:1 episodic retelling. Was it perfect? No, but it was damn good and fun
