If there’s one thing to remember about the school year, it’s Gatsby.
Gatsby themed prom, Gatsby required reading, and of course, Gatsby’s movie of the summer.
Director Baz Luhrmann and producer Jay Z worked together to create a knock-you-off-your-seat movie with modern and booming music and graphics that really capture the pretentious society and setting of the jazz age, all in a 2.5 hour time frame.
Leonardo DiCaprio plays the perfect Gatsby, emphasizing his love for Daisy (Carey Mulligan) without being obsessive or overbearingly romantic, almost replacing the camouflaged nature of evil as the theme with a heartbreaking adorable love story.
The trailers play up the parties, clothes, and glamor, but much to the relief of Fitzgerald enthusiasts, pay such tribute to the imagery and symbolism of the book (the green light, Tom as a polo player, the clock scene where Daisy and Gatsby are reunited) that it refuses to stray too far from the fact that the twenties- and Nick Caraway’s (former Spiderman Toby McGuire) experiences, were hopelessly depressing.
Literature fanatic or not, The Great Gatsby was a well done adaptation of a classic book by a contemporary director who is notoriously successful with incorporating classic themes with a modern twist to create anachronisms that will leave both audiences and literature teachers raving all summer long.
photo by teaser-trailer.com
