Experience Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby
This year’s most hotly anticipated filmic release is undoubtedly the excessive new interpretation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. The latest interpretation of the 1925 novel is vastly different to the 1974 movie release, instead embracing all of the lavish traditions that have come to be expected from its Australian director, Baz Luhrmann.
The Great Gatsby follows the life of mysterious millionaire Jay Gatsby and his romance with the airy but beautiful (and taken), Daisy Buchanan. Set at the height of the roaring twenties, the novel traces the lavish lives of its characters in detail through the narration of Jay’s pensive and quiet neighbour, Nick Carraway.
The Great Gatsby was brought to life on film in 1974 under the watchful eye of the iconic Francis Ford Coppola. The movie starred a rosy-cheeked Mia Farrow and a suave Robert Redford, dressed in a dreamy colour palette of pastel drawn from a largely Ralph Lauren-designed wardrobe.
This year’s The Great Gatsby, however, is far removed from the serene first film, largely as a result of the camera instead being wielded by the unbridled exuberance of Baz Luhrmann. There’s no doubt that this particular adaptation of the novel is one that is unabashedly over the top. The film drips with diamonds, sequin-laden flapper girls and impromptu dance parties. But, if anything, Baz’s passion for excess perfectly captures the incredulous indulgence that was the Jazz Age. The film is also accompanied by a landmark soundtrack that groups together today’s main music players, including Jay-Z, Lana Del Rey, Jack White, Andre 3000 and Beyoncé in reinterpretations of songs such as Amy Winehouse’s ‘Back to Black’.
The Great Gatsby is in cinemas from today.
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