HOPE, DESPERATION AND EVERYTHING IN BETWEEN : "THE GREAT GATSBY"

I was genuinely excited when I heard this film was being made. Especially since it was starring Leonardo Di Caprio AND Tobey Maguire… They are two of my favourite actors and The Great Gatsby is one of my favourite books. I was a little unsure of what I thought of Baz Lhurman directing it…  I mean don’t get me wrong, Moulin Rouge (the film he is the most remembered for as far as I can see) was beautiful but… Well it that was it really. It was beautiful. A film needs to be beautiful but in an ideal world it needs to have a bit more meat than that on its bones. And I have to say, the film (The Great Gatsby) has been lambasted quite badly by the critics, in some circles at least. I was eager to see what it was about – and have decidedly been stricken by the film – but I can’t say I blame the critics either…

Ok for those of you who aren’t big into literature, a brief summary.  Nick Carraway (Tobey Maguire) is a budding author who has left his artistic aspirations to one side to sell bonds on Wall street. It is the 1920’s, the golden age of Wall Street and Nick is quickly swept up into a world of fast living and boozey parties (all this despite Prohibition of course). Nick’s head is turned by the glamour and glory that assails him for all sides but he is unaware – at least at first – that the true “place to be” in New York of the 1920’s is on his very doorstep. His neighbour, an elusive man called James Gatsby (Leonardo DiCaprio) who has seemingly never-ending financial means that he uses to throw the most spectacular parties New York has ever seen, week after week. Nick is drawn into these parties… But he is treated to something a little more than the usual guests: the confidences of Gatsby himself… Because although it may seem to the untrained eye that Gatsby is simply living a carefree and privileged life the way so many are, but in actual fact, Gatsby is a man with a plan…

Now first up: There is a reason this film was nominated for Oscars for Costume and Production Design. It is hands down one of the most beautiful films I have seen in a very, very, VERY long time.  Now don’t tut or dismiss this as “make-up” because it really isn’t as simple as all that. Gatsby’s whole mentality and whole struggle with society is based on that beautiful exterior. The fanfare, the trappings and, according to Tom Buchanan (the husband of the ill-fated Daisy)  marks him out clearly as a “nouveau riche”. The whole point is that, at the end of the day, Gatsby is “different” from all his party guests and all those stunning trappings are shams. Tom Buchanan sees this as a bad thing – the trappings hide a simple bootlegger and a crass man according to him… We however, through the eyes of Nick Carraway and Daisy Buchanan (Carey Mulligan) see that while there is indeed, a different Gatsby under the trappings and fanfare – it is not as simple a matter as Tom paints it…

Or at least we should. I hate to say this, I really do. But this particular film does a STUNNING rendition of what Gatsby’s trappings looked like… And gets tangled up in them. I could plainly see the efforts to put that depth across but it’s just not working. What annoyed me the most about the whole thing was the way he got Nick Carraway to narrate over plot points that are made supremely clear through the actor’s performances. I mean I know that modern Hollywood does, from time to time, feel the need to take a neon sign and point at what we are “meant to be feeling” but the way Lhurman does it almost harks back to the “chorus” in Greek tragedies of yore. I fully realise that this is, in the end, entertainment and we don’t necessarily want the film to pose us mental puzzles that we work out over 3 or 4 viewings but come on… Leave something to the audience. I mean heck, leave something to the actors! Between the pomp and circumstance and the rather forced narration, in the 2 hours and 20 minutes of film there is surprisingly little room left to show the depth of character Gatsby truly possessed.  I mean ok, we are shown clips from his childhood where he is shown (literally) reaching for the stars; a cute if rather stock image, but is it really sufficient proof he had vision and ambition? It’s the same problem – a beautiful picture: a blond blue eyes scallywag reaching up into a beautiful starry sky – but it doesn’t really tell the story does it? I feel it happens to a lot of key scenes in the film. In so many places, all the emotions are put across in the most cliché way possible… Executed with grace and beauty but still, not one iota of originality; and that is such a strange thing to say about a film that has as stunning visuals as The Great Gatsby…  I guess the fact that the film is based on a book as emotionally “filling” as Fitsgerald’s classic just makes things worse. I wonder if that was why the narration bit was added? You know, a desperate attempt to capture that atmosphere of the book by actually reading sections from it.

I’m especially disappointed because the film was SO visually striking, I was actually under the influence of the atmos a day or two after I watched it… If it was only half as striking emotionally as it was visually we’d have a masterpiece on our hands. As such, it breaks my heart to say this, but it’s the victory of style over content… 

A TRIP TO END ALL TRIPS OF ALL KINDS! "FEAR AND LOATHING IN LAS VEGAS"

Time for something a little more “hard hitting”. We centered around the emotional traumas of war, the 60’s and even the 20’s last week, but this week , I’m going for the “tough stuff”. Quentin Tarantino will feature heavily in the proceedings but before we get to him, I want to discuss another of my favorite directors. Terry Gilliam. Now, to say I love Monty Python would rank among the great understatements of the century… Terry Gilliam is the one in the band who did the animations. A graphic artist by trade he did those beautiful surreal animations that sort of wound out of one absurd shape into another without so much as a “by your leave” leaving the viewer completely befuddled as to where he began in the first place… In a strange way, I feel his work as a director has a lot of the same surreal quality… Not the photography but the storytelling… Did you watch Tideland? Or The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus? Did you like either? If you said yes, you will LOVE Fear and Loathing…
Meet Raoul Duke (Johnny Depp). He was a newspaper reporter somewhere down the line. He still is, thanks to his large Samoan “attorney” Dr Gonzo (Benicio Del Toro). Dr. Gonzo and Duke do a lot of traveling together. They also get into A LOT of serious trouble together. They are usually loaded on every kind of drink and drug imaginable, and they surrender to the drugs, let it course through their bodies and take them wherever the f.ck it feels like. Most of these adventures are fuelled by Duke’s sporadic work as a journalist. And this work sends our weird duo to Las Vegas one fine morning. Mayhem being both Las Vegas’s and Duke and Gonzo’s middle names, the combination is… Highly combustible…
Ok, think of the Big Lebowski. It’s the same kind of film. It is most definitely not suitable for kids. And I hear some of you tut – tutting at the idea of a comedy about drugs saying “maybe we’ll give this one a miss”. No. Do NOT give this one a miss. As far as comedy is concerned, Mr. Gilliam’s talent as a director and Mr. Depp’s acting skills alone make for an unforgettable experience. Raoul Duke, his mannerisms, his way of speech… No wonder the character became a classic… Plus, guest appearances are abundant – Cameron Diaz, Toby Maguire, Christina Ricci… The quality of acting is breath-taking… You may have slight trouble distinguishing a beginning and an end – you would not be wrong. The film however, has content. You will be surprised to find out it even has a political message. Duke harks back to the 60’s when flower power ruled, when the world WAS going to become filled with peace and harmony… He criticizes America of the 80’s and what it became (Gilliam is the only American python so it’s appropriate really. Let’s not forget however that this was actually adapted from a short story by Hunter Tompson but I am yet to read that one…) Duke and Gonzo are degenerates – they are also caricatures… Maybe what Gilliam (and Tompson) are looking for is present with its absence so to speak… You really should watch and give it a good thought… I mean even the dudes at Cannes thought Mr. Gilliam could be worth a Golden Palm (he was nominated didn’t win it thought)Even if you don’t come up with any philosophical or political conclusions, I guarantee you one heck of a ride…