Movie Bites

The fashion, the music, the dancing, the post-war enthusiasm…it all takes center stage in The Great Gatsby.

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I have not been in a theatre that packed out since the final Harry Potter movie.  We attempted a 7:00 show, but with only 7 tickets left, we knew our seats would be horrible so we opted for the 7:30 show, which also quickly sold out.  This is my favorite kind of movie to go to…one where the people who are there aren’t just trying to kill time or had nothing better to do.  They’re there because they are excited to see it.

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We sat in the very top row, and at one point I looked down across the theatre, and everyone was riveted.  There were no whisperers and no glowing cell phone screens.  And that makes me happy happy happy! (Shout out to Phil Robertson…any Duck Dynasty fans out there?)

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So, the movie…I’ve been excited for two years waiting for it, but at the same time, I went in feeling reserved excitement because it’s a Baz Luhrmann film.  He does all kinds of wacky things and I haven’t been very impressed with him up to this point.  But let me go on record saying he was a perfect fit for an over-the-top version of The Great Gatsby.

If you had a normal American education, then you read the book in high school and know the story.  I did not have a normal education so I just read it a few years ago.  Nick Carraway (Tobey Maguire) is a shy, honest fella who moves next door to the famous Jay Gatsby (Leonardo DiCaprio), known throughout New York for throwing extravagant parties.  Nick’s cousin, Daisy (Carey Mulligan), lives across the bay with her husband Tom, a philandering, but very rich, loser.  As it turns out, Gatsby and Daisy have some history and it doesn’t take long for Nick to get swept up in the unfortunate events that take place that summer.  The parts were cast perfectly and that’s all I have to say about that.

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Speaking of the book, I appreciated that the oculist billboard was a deep blue, which I assume was a nod to the famous book cover above.

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There was so much to love.  The cinematography was brilliant.  So much zooming in and out for dramatic effect.  And there were many interesting camera angles like in the photo above.   And  I adore the lighting in the Times Square photo below, exaggerated to show the glitz and glamour of the Roaring Twenties.  This Zeigfeld Follies ad made me smile, thinking about so many old musicals I’ve seen.

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The way they showed the proximity of Long Island to New York, and the roads they had to travel between the two, was interesting, with a lot of lighting and shading to show different parts of the city.  But the thing I enjoyed the most was the way he showed Daisy’s house and Gatsby’s house off across the bay from each other.  He showed this over and over, but it was necessary to show that Gatsby moved there for a reason.  It was beautifully done.

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One thing I was a little worried about was the soundtrack.  It was no secret that the music was mostly contemporary with artists including Jay Z, Florence and the Machine, Lana Del Ray, Will.I.Am, Fergie, and more.  I normally don’t enjoy a period film with contemporary music, but in this movie it was a little gaudy at times, but mostly seamless.  Even the hip hop somehow blended in easily, and normally I would hate it.  At one of Gatsby’s huge blowout soirees, the music went back and forth between hip hop and snippets of jazz from the actual era.  It totally worked and it was genius!  The photo above reminds me of a musical montage in Singin in the Rain, which was also set in the 20′s.

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There were a few moments in the movie that seemed almost cartoonish and in those moments I definitely groaned.  In the photo above, he turns around and announces in a proud voice, “I’m Gatsby.”  Very laughable.  The entire movie was extremely exaggerated, but I read an article that explained that the filmmakers felt it had to be exaggerated and elevated to correctly portray just how opulent and over the top these people’s lives were back then.  If they had money, they flaunted it.  And my friends and I were discussing that it makes sense because when you think about it, F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote The Great Gatsby, and he was one of those ex-patriots in the 20′s who lived in Paris basically creating art and living raucous, almost bohemian lifestyles.

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And speaking of money, the director did a great job of showing the difference between the two worlds taking up space on Long Island, one being old money (above) and the other being new money (below).

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My friend asked me what food I’d pair with this, and I told her it might sound dorky, but honestly, this movie doesn’t need a food pairing.  This movie IS the food.  It was so decadent and rich.  So much for the eyes to take in.  So much beauty, along with the heartache and the obvious fact that the characters in this famous story make one bad decision after another.

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So if you want to contribute to huge opening weekend success, go see The Great Gatsby.  There’s nothing out there quite like it and you won’t be sorry for seeing something this gorgeous on the big screen.

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And after you’ve seen it, come back and tell me what you think, Old Sport.