Watch it, Read it, Listen it; The Great Gatsby

I'm sure that regardless of what I say about this movie plenty of people will see it, but if you're curious about what it's all about, or would like to talk opinions then read on!
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Reading The Great Gatsby in school is a memory that is still quite strong in my reflections of high school. I was in year 10, and although I'd loved English all my life, my grades were never great; until writing an essay on this book. My teacher told my parents at the next parent-teacher interview that I was a break-through story, that something had clicked - and from that essay on I sat comfortably at the front of my grade.

Why I think that this is important was that I attributed my sudden English success not to some intelligence that had suddenly bloomed within me, but to the content of the book, The Great Gatsby. The reason that I say this is because I realise that this was the first time that I found myself captured by complexity of character, curiously intrigued by plot and fully understanding the importance of the symbolism of visuals and their paralleled meaning within the story as a whole.

It was these things that I was reminded of while watching the film adaptation. I haven't read the book since year 10, some 7 years ago, and truthfully I can't remember if it mimics the book exactly, but I did recognize that I was taken back to that same interest that I had when I first encountered the story.

The character of Nick Carraway, our focaliser, tells us the story after-the-fact, meaning that as you watch, you experience the story as he did. However at some stages you're let in on the hindsight that he has. This was great as it gave you just enough information to keep you interested, but not enough to spoil it.



J. Gatsby is this odd mix of approachable and intimidated, moving from a love sick teenager to a social mystery in a matter of scenes. And Daisy Buchanan is stunning, sweet, and frankly a little boring compared - probably a good thing considering the complexity of the characters as a whole.

That brings me to the soundtrack. Compiled by Jay Z, the soundtrack sees the likes of Beyonce, The xx, Gotye and Lana Del Ray. It's a bit of a signature of the director, Baz Lurman, to use modern music in contexts that they wouldn't generally be seen. This makes the movie accessible, but is also one of those things that kind of reminds you that it's a movie. Overall, I found the soundtrack didn't live up to it's hype. There were some clever elements but the 20's brought us some fantastic music and I would have loved to have been able to see that music matched with this context.

The only other thing I feel I should mention is the visuals. The way this film is shot is very visually stimulating, that and the sets and costumes means that it's a feast for your eyes.

Honestly, this will probably be a movie that ends up as one of my all time favourites and I can't think of anything more to say than "go see it!"

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Let me know your thoughts on this film!