“The loneliest moment in someone’s life is when they are watching their whole world fall apart, and all they can do is stare blankly.”
As a novel deemed incapable of translating onto screen, preconceived notions were buzzing about the film prior to release, especially with director Baz Luhrmann’s sensational modern eye attached to the holiest of holy American classics. With glitz and glamor, Hip-Hop and a glossy 3D finish, Luhrmann’s adaptation paints a boisterous statement—it’s no surprise critics are dissatisfied and dismissive of the highly stylized 21st century vision of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby.
But with such a hyper musical score, 3D adaptation and over-stylized CGI, this is questionable content worth giving a chance, because while I’ve read the book and seen the Robert Redford adaptation, I was a little iffy as well. Instead of watching this expecting a page to screen adaptation, consider it a page to screen interpretation coated with 21st century context that only Baz can create. If the greatest complaint is Luhrmann’s style over substance, isn’t that exactly who Jay Gatsby was?
Courtney Young
Tippi
