The Great Gatsby

Gatsby is mysterious, enthralling, and captivating just like the movie surrounding him, a tragic tale of lost love and the misguided effort to build a life around an unobtainable goal, surreal and fantastic, filled with glamour and longing.  In the end, all of the events lead to a violent conclusion all watched over by the eyes of a bygone optometrist’s billboard, ever watching eyes that float on a blue field like a judgmental god.

The beginning of the movie plays almost like a music video with dialogue coming in quick clips and images racing across the screen, especially the early party scenes with their elaborately controlled chaos of the roaring parties at Gatsby’s house.  These sequences are used to set up the beginning of the story where the plot runs the slowest, a smart decision considering the run-time and the amount of story that needed to be told before the plot really kicks in.  If not for this, the beginning of the movie had the capacity to be snore inducing.  Combine this breakneck breeze through the set-up with the movie’s unique style, blending old style with modern sensibility, creates an interesting canvas to tell this personal story on such a large scale.

One of the most interesting choices in this movie is the use of modern music to depict the continuous-party atmosphere of the roaring twenties.  Not only does it create a further stylized atmosphere for the 1920’s depicted in this film, but it also forces you to make a connection with the empty lifestyles of the characters and the perceived moral decay of our current society. 

All in all, I enjoyed The Great Gatsby.  I almost want to read the book to get further perspective on this telling of a timeless story.