If you never read the classic F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel The Great Gatsby, now is your chance to catch up -- by watching the latest film adaptation. Because if there's one sentence to sum up the film, it would be, as Fox News says in its review, "It's just like the book" Director Baz Luhrmann's main challenge was "either to find a visual equivalent  for Fitzgerald's elegant essay--the open secret of the book's staying power-- or to bend the material to his own exotic  strengths,a Time magazine review says. He tries it both ways, with varying degrees of success. Considered to be Fitzgerald's representative work, The Great Gatsby explores themes of idealism, resistance to change, social change, and excess, creating a portrait of the Jazz Age or the Roaring Twenties that has been described as a cautionary tale regarding the American Dream. Nick, the narrator, moves to New York for the summer to visit his cousin Daisy. His next-door neighbor is Jay Gatsby (Leonardo DiCaprio), who rarely contacts with others and is rumored to be a hero of the Great War. Gatsby claims to have attended Oxford University, but the evidence is suspect. As Nick learns more about Gatsby, every detail about him seems questionable, except his love for the Daisy. Though Daisy is married, Gatsby still adores her as his --golden girl.They first met when she was a young lady from a wealthy family and he was a working-class military officer. Daisy promised to wait for his return from the war. However, she married Tom, a classmate of Nick's. Having obtained a great fortune, Gatsby sets out to win her back again. "All of Fitzgerald's original creation finds its way into this film, even going as far to include quite a bit of the original dialogue,US film critic Justin Taroli writes in his review. "The cast is beautiful as is the script, and the scenes are a visual feast.Taroli adds. DiCaprio does a good and professional job as the socialite by re-creating Fitzgerald's description of Gatsby's charm. "He can look at someone for an instant and understand how, perfectly, he or she wants to be seen,David Denby, a film critic for The New Yorker, says in his review. The use of music is almost reason enough to see the film. "Luhrmann is at his best mixing visual and musical styles together to create something wholly original, the Fox News review said. For example, in one of the most outstanding scenes in the film, the first party scene, Nick walks quickly from one party guest to another party guest trying to explain all the gossip about Gatsby until he is finally introduced to the man himself, while the most stirring version of Rhapsody in Blue (composed by American musician George Gershwin in 1924) is played in the background. What did Baz Luhrmann do to make the film a success?
He adapted the story in the novel as he wished. He made the film more powerful than the book. He mixed his style with the elegance of the essay. He showed the elegance of the pictures in the film.