The Great Gatsby

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is one of those novels that everyone is told to read, usually for school, meaning spending hours dissecting every line for symbolism, so it can be easy to forget (or entirely miss) why the book is such a classic. It's the story of ambition, love, mystery, but more than that, of a time and a place, capturing in so few words, the true essence of a mere moment so poetically. There's no one better to capture that essence than the master of grand spectacle himself, director Baz Luhrmann.
This film is uptempo and opulent, every shot meticulously framed, like an Impressionist painting. Everything glimmers, from wardrobe to set decoration, evoking that very American form of optimism. I could go on and on, but the point is that, without doubt, the film is a visual masterpiece.
The acting, too, is splendid. Carey Mulligan is dewy and careworn all at once, all fluttering curtains and flowing curves, like spring with a hint of frost. In other words, utterly ravishing in the most heartbreaking way. I found Tobey Maguire (except for one brief instant of Spider-man 3 flashback) to be charmingly naive as Nick Carraway. Then there's Leonardo DiCaprio. Admittedly, he is possibly my favorite actor of our generation, and not just because of those piercing blue eyes, but I have it on good authority that it's not just me. He is truly magnificent as Jay Gatsby. He is the heart and soul, the epitome of the American dream, the perfect irresistible imagination with an unending sense of hope. As the kids say, he is just everything. Enough of my gushing, though.
Surprisingly, I did not find the use of hip-hop music to be entirely off-putting. At times, I thought it worked quite well. The one moment that seems to have bothered everyone I've talked to is the car pumping some Jay-Z that Nick & Gatsby pass on the bridge into Manhattan. Luhrmann justifies it by pointing out that hip-hop is something like the jazz of our time, but that doesn't make rap-loving flappers any less jarring.
The other departure from the novel, the decision to have Nick tell the story to a psychiatrist, is a choice I go back and forth on. I can see justifications for and against it. I don't hate it, but I don't love it either. It's the one niggling detail that is keeping me from pronouncing this as the movie of the year. As late-night host and comedian Craig Ferguson is fond of saying, I look forward to your letters.