Directed by:
Baz Luhrmann
Starring:
Carey Mulligan
Joel Egerton
Leonardo DiCaprio
Tobey Maguire
2013
Rest of the world, Cert 12A
Running time: 2h 23m
Film £5.
Doors and bar open 7.00pm, Film 7.30pm, Supper 10.00pm
Latest bookings 12.00 noon Sunday 13th October – pay at the door.
Bookings: filmnight@rockbournevillagehall.org.uk or phone Lucy Matthews 01725 518695
Is F. Scott Fitzgerald’s the ‘Great Gatsby’ the finest novel of the last century? Well, perhaps not, but it is one of the most influential, dissecting with ruthless brilliance ‘the American Dream’.
Just who is Gatsby, and how did he acquire his fabulous wealth? Does anybody care, just as long as he continues to hold incredible parties, at his palatial house by the shore of Long Island? Leonardo DiCaprio is the very embodiment of Jay Gatsby (played in previous films by Robert Redford and Alan Ladd) with his languid air of amused detachment and ‘old sport’ twenties slang. At the heart of the story is the long-standing love that Jay has for Daisy (the luminous Carey Mulligan – An Education). Unrequited and unspoken because then, before she married the nasty, but very rich and ‘old family’, Tom Buchanan (Joel Edgerton), Jay was poor…too poor to court ‘old money’. The Buchanans live across the bay from Jay’s pile but well in sight. All this is viewed with cynical awe by Daisy’s cousin Nick Carraway (Toby Maguire – yes, SpiderMan), who is really the central character of the film. Tragedy and scandal are played out while the world dances and drinks champagne. Jay himself, of course, never dances.
The film cost more than $100 million to make and won’t disappoint. For sheer exuberance nothing beats The Great Gatsby. If you liked director Baz Luhrmann’s ‘Moulin Rouge’ and ‘Romeo and Juliette’, you will know what to expect… non- stop glitz and glamour. Luhrmann, uses both authentic period music and rap from Will.I.Am with artful abandon.
A feast for the eyes, ears and heart.
John Crome
Next film (provisional): November 20th 2013 Behind the Candelabra