The whole film kicks off from a sanatorium. After experiencing the shock of the Gatsby incident, the storyteller (also the incarnation of Fitzgerald) Nick Callaway is receiving psychotherapy in this sanatorium due to alcoholism and mental disorders. In the conversation with the psychologist, Nick gradually told the doctor about his experience with Gatsby in just a few months, and the popular story that carried the dark side of the American dream was also drawn by him: the protagonist Gatsby was born In a family that is not rich, she had a relationship with the famous lady Daisy when she was young. However, when Gatsby set foot on the battlefield of World War II, Daisy married Tom Buchanan, who was also a wealthy family. Also lost contact with Gatsby. After a few years, Gatsby finally succeeded and built a mansion opposite Daisy's house. He was generous and attracted countless high-class New York guests to indulge in his mansion, but he did so only to attract Daisy's attention and to redeem the lost love.
In this more than two-hour movie, Baz Ruchman’s iconic audio-visual bombing is flooded. In expressing the New York style of the jazz age, Luchman mixed computer-synthesized 3D special effects shots with real historical archives, making George Gershwin’s jazz classics "Rhapsody in Blue" and Jay-Z popular in contemporary America. The rap songs of the musicians alternately appear, so the personable atmosphere of the times and the flashy elegance of the jazz age have all become the dance of the nightclub men and women after Luchman's adaptation. This interpretation will undoubtedly make die-hard book fans interested in this film. Criticized endlessly. But Luchman has repeatedly emphasized that he mixed contemporary technology with historical background in order to use Gatsby's story to satirize the past and the present. After all, the bizarre images and the noisy and harsh pop music are indeed more in line with the aesthetic habits of contemporary audiences (regardless of whether this habit is desirable or not), and can also narrow the distance between this classic story and contemporary audiences. At the same time, if we take a step back and look at this story, we might also ask ourselves, is this era that we are in really different from that flashy and extravagant jazz era? Today’s world has experienced extreme wealth disparity caused by the capital system and large-scale economic crises. However, the concept of money supremacy and the influence of consumerism still dominate the thinking of many modern people, and many people are still post-modern that is radiated by money. The mist blinded the eyes, and could not see the exaggeration and futility of capital thinking.
It is under the background of the era of exaggeration that we can see the complexity of Gatsby's character. His vision is farther than those of the general population. He knows how to make money, but he can see the emptiness of the upper-class lifestyle. Although he spends money like earth, he is not affected by this lifestyle. In the novel, Nick would say to him, "You have to beat the sum of them (referring to the Buchanan family)." However, the fatal temptation he faces is Daisy. He is not only in love with Daisy, but also with Daisy. All the appearances inherent in the upper class society represented by the West: beautiful, elegant, optimistic, cheerful and charming. He knew this well. When Nick was puzzled by Daisy’s moving and rash voice, it was Gatsby who hit the point and solved Nick’s doubts: "(Because) her voice is like the voice of money. "(It is worth noting that this line was deleted in the movie). All the traits of Daisy that fascinate Gatsby are made up of money. Gatsby can see the paradox he is facing, but he can't extricate himself. The contradictory situation he is in reflects his Complex character, it is this character that has allowed generations of readers to enjoy Fitzgerald's original works to this day.
Leonardo DiCaprio's interpretation of Gatsby is the highlight of the new version of Gatsby. Through the character of Gatsby, Leonardo is also unwittingly deconstructing his own image. Just as Gatsby created the surface image of the diamond king and old five for himself, Leonardo has also used a series of serious but slightly boring in the more than ten years after the great success of "Titanic" Characters, to portray yourself as a "serious actor" on the surface. However, Leonardo’s persistent insistence on his play has won many praises, but it has also caused aesthetic fatigue. More and more people are beginning to use adjectives such as "excessive force" and "pretentious" to evaluate his unchanging Way of performance. The new version of "Gatsby" provided him with a rare opportunity to breathe. He also used Gatsby's role to show us his comedy talent when he mastered the relaxed drama, because many of the laughs in the movie came from Gatsby. The contrast between his mature appearance and his immature mind. Leonardo’s performance restores Gatsby’s success as an infatuated boy who, despite his success, is extremely insecure due to various experiences. This is the type of role Leonardo is best at playing, and it is also the best for many audiences. Like to see the type of role he plays.
Despite the above-mentioned highlights, the new version of "Gatsby" is still not an excellent film. The fundamental reason for its failure lies in the serious deviation of its tone from the original tone. The tone of the original work is subtly summarized by a description of Nick Callaway in the original work. As a narrator, Nick is not only a person enjoying the party upstairs, but also a bystander watching silently downstairs. Being in it and staying out of it, fascinated and rejected this way of life." This attitude of wandering on the edge of participation and on the sidelines makes the text of the original text a self-reflection in the strong discrimination of likes and dislikes, and has a sad but not sad emotional tone. This is exactly the style that Fitzgerald adopted when writing the original, and it is also the style that Buzz Ruchman abandoned when shooting the film. Luchmann, who is indulging in the display of audiovisual wonders, seems to be lost in the logic of the era that he should have criticized. Therefore, the gorgeous scenery and beautiful costumes can only highlight the superficiality and weakness of this movie.
Although the new version of "Gatsby" is the most faithful to the original of the five film adaptations, it is also the most criticized changes that mark the separation of the film from the original in terms of artistic level. First of all, Ruchman sets Nick as a drunkard at the beginning of the film. This setting obviously violates Nick and Fitzgerald's attitude of being both inside and out of the matter, so he has already set a movie for the movie. Weird tone. The second significant change is the weakening of Nick and Jordan Baker's love clues. Although Jordan Baker in the original book is very different from Nick in character, the two of them are extremely similar in terms of their backgrounds and perspectives on upper-class society. They are all born in middle-class families, neither are they desperate like Gatsby from a poor boy, nor are they like Daisy from a rich family, who has endless capital to splurge. Similar backgrounds have created the habit of neglecting action and observing between the two, and also made the mutual attraction between the two natural. Nick and Jordan's slightly static love relationship, and Gatsby and Daisy's passionate and painful love relationship form a set of polyphonic narratives, and the two clues complement each other in mutual contrast. The film's weakening of this clue, relegated Jordan Baker to a fully functional vase role, and at the same time greatly weakened the film's narrative richness and the reflectiveness of viewpoints.
After more than two hours of unnecessary noise, one of the most colorful chapters of 20th-century American literature, the ending narrative part of "The Great Gatsby," is in Toby Maguire’s childish hoarseness. His voice seemed so pale and feeble. The new version of "Gatsby" attempts to use Fitzgerald's story to criticize the era we live in, but it is eventually assimilated and dispelled by the logic of the era. It is a meaningless bubble, but it is also a great bubble, because through this movie, we can see countless symptoms of our time: pale, superficial, empty, impetuous, fragmented, and inadequate.
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