In 1922 Long Island, Nick (Maguire) rents a tiny cottage across the sound from his cousin Daisy (Mulligan), who has married his all-American college pal Tom (Edgerton). Next door to Nick is a monstrous mansion owned by reclusive millionaire Jay Gatsby (DiCaprio), who throws wildly over-the-top parties for the New York elite in the hopes of catching the attention of Daisy across the water. Because five years ago he fell in love with her, and now he's back to give her the American dream. But is he too late?

The film walks a precarious line between celebrating Gatsby's hedonistic lifestyle and moralising about the emptiness of materialism. Luhrmann clearly loves depicting high-society decadence, throwing glitter and fireworks at the audience as the champagne-soaked crowd dances in wild abandon. But each character is unnervingly haunted: they're all defined by their flaws, unable to see the bigger picture as they head over the nearest precipice. And integrity and justice are in short supply.

Maguire offers the only voice of reason, narrating the tale to his shrink (Thompson) to take us on his wide-eyed journey. DiCaprio superbly brings out Gatsby's charisma and insecurities; Gatsby has everything but can't think beyond Daisy. Edgerton shines as the brutish Tom, a confident racist with a magnetic swagger. Frankly it's difficult to see what either sees in the passive airhead Daisy, although Mulligan finds moments of soulfulness. Daisy's party-girl pal Jordan (Debicki) is much more interesting. And Fisher and Clarke add dark textures as a working-class couple caught in the storm.

Ultimately, this is a cautionary tale of rampant capitalism artificially inflating the economy before crashing and burning. So it's eerily relevant today. And Luhrmann fills every frame with whizzy imagery and an abundant sound-mix. His use of 3D makes the film look like a lavish pop-up book, and he raucously indulges in his trademark swooping aerial camera shots, even though a single well-timed one would have more impact. But in the end, the characters are so icy that they reveal the film's empty core with a jolt of unexpected honesty.

themes, language, violence

15.May.13