Today I saw The Great Gatsby.
[Spoiler (click to open)]I love literature and I love film. Obviously. I love it when literature is well adapted to film (Lord of the Rings; Fight Club, Peter Brooks' King Lear, 1984 by Michael Radford are amongst my favourites). But some books are not translatable. I have grave reservations about Midnight's Children, and although I hadn't seen the previous versions I had grave reservations about The Great Gatsby. As it turned out, I was mostly right.
Gatsby is a subtle and stylish novel and Baz Luhrmann is sometimes a stylish director but never a subtle one. I think the cast did their best what they were given but it didn't really come off - I felt like Tom and Daisy were forcibly humanized to the extent that when they shrug it all off and go on holiday at the end it just felt...random. Also, Leonardo DiCaprio is a *very* good actor, but for me he isn't the right choice for Jay Gatsby (whom I always imagined as a kind of wiry neurotic vibrating with energy and carelessly spinning his tall tales). Toby Maguire wasn't a bad choice for Nick but his interactions with Gatsby, where the character should really be revealed, were over-edited. Actually the whole film was over-edited. That said, the whole theme of the careless destruction of wealth translated well visually: the Valley of Ashes sequences were some of the films strengths.
Overall I'd say it's worth seeing if you're interested in adaptation. Otherwise stick to the book.
Gatsby is a subtle and stylish novel and Baz Luhrmann is sometimes a stylish director but never a subtle one. I think the cast did their best what they were given but it didn't really come off - I felt like Tom and Daisy were forcibly humanized to the extent that when they shrug it all off and go on holiday at the end it just felt...random. Also, Leonardo DiCaprio is a *very* good actor, but for me he isn't the right choice for Jay Gatsby (whom I always imagined as a kind of wiry neurotic vibrating with energy and carelessly spinning his tall tales). Toby Maguire wasn't a bad choice for Nick but his interactions with Gatsby, where the character should really be revealed, were over-edited. Actually the whole film was over-edited. That said, the whole theme of the careless destruction of wealth translated well visually: the Valley of Ashes sequences were some of the films strengths.
Overall I'd say it's worth seeing if you're interested in adaptation. Otherwise stick to the book.