The Great Gatsby {Movie Review}

I read The Great Gatsby as a child but that was so long ago that I forgot what it was all about, so I went in with no expectations.

And how was it? I loved it! It lived up to its name: GREAT. It’s one of the best movies I have seen this year. Well done, old sport! It’s not a typical romance, though. This story is symbolic and quite tragic. Oops spoiler alert. But you know, in case you wanted something light and fun and ends in a happily ever after, this isn’t it, girls.

The story in a nutshell:

Nick Carroway moves to New York during the roaring 1920s and finds himself living next to a mysterious rich neighbor, Jay Gatsby, who throws lavish parties in his mansion on Saturday nights. Soon Nick gets an invite to attend one of these parties, where he meets Jay. The man befriends him and ends up asking him a favor: could he possibly instigate a reunion between Jay and Nick’s married cousin Daisy Buchanan? Nick agrees, and when the two former lovers meet again, their passion is rekindled, and they start an affair. Nick discovers that the grandiose mansion and all the lavish parties, Jay had done it all for Daisy. He had wanted to marry her before, but as he was still penniless, he asked her to wait, but she couldn’t, so she married someone else. Jay loves Daisy and wants her to leave her husband and marry him, so they could live in his mansion. But Daisy is troubled. Will she have the courage to leave her husband?

The main message that I got out of the film was this: you cannot repeat the past. Gatsby dwelled on it too much, and it led to his downfall.

Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that’s no matter—tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther. . . . And then one fine morning— So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.

The other message was: love is a dangerous disadvantage. This movie adds on to proof of that belief which I mentioned before. Earlier in the movie, though, I found myself wishing: I wish I could love someone like that, love someone so much that it inspires me to do achieve great things just for him.

One of the movie’s best features is the cinematography, all the pomp and pizzazz and all that jazz was a visual treat. The music was good for the ears too. I wanted to go join the parties in my flapper dress or Prada gown and headbands and jewelry or have dinner with the Buchanans in their mansion while the french windows were flung open in choreographed fashion by the butlers.

Another great feature is The Great Gatsby himself, played by Leonardo Di Caprio. Though Leo is one of my most favorite actors of all time, it had been quite a while since I had seen him fill the role of a romantic lead, so I had forgotten how he was capable of sending hearts a-flutter. This movie took me back years, reminding me of the Titanic years when I cut out magazine pictures of Leo and decorated my binder covers with them.

Leo: still as dreamy a male lead as ever [image source]

The moment his face was finally shown in the film, my seat mate whispered, “He’s still so handsome!” I nodded my head in assent, surprised that I had forgotten how he had this effect, how the cinema once spontaneously burst in screams the moment his eyes – just his eyes, mind – were flashed for the first time in Titanic.

Of course he is more than just a pretty face in this film. He put his acting chops to good use again, showing a wide range of emotions, reminding everyone why he is one of the best actors of his generation.

The entire cinema was laughing out loud at the scene before his reunion with Daisy, because he was so nervous, acting like a teenage boy. It’s a treat to find a grown man (in an immaculate white tux, no less) acting like that. 😀

We were also awed at a scene where he goes apoplectic with rage, his facial muscles literally twitching, his complexion turning red.

Carey Mulligan as Daisy was a good choice, as well. She is simply beautiful, though her face is forever etched with a hauntingly sad expression.

I loved the words used in the story, words that apparently had been lifted straight from the novel. There are moments when they literally fly off the scene as a visual framing device, and I liked it. I also liked the way they framed the story, that of Nick writing the story, his way of coping with depression, as instructed by his doctor.

I can’t wait to read the book!

Okay let’s move to SPOILER territory, so if you don’t want to read those, PLEASE GO AWAY NOW.

Why does Leo always have to die in his love stories? This movie felt like Titanic all over again. sobs

This is worse than Titanic, though, because at least in Titanic, the girl chose him.

Well at least he died thinking that she chose him, because he heard the phone ring. But isn’t it tragic how in the end, your money can’t get you love? How sad was that funeral? 🙁