Gatsby Cannot Buy Love

The Roaring Twenties were an outrageous and wild time period. Electricity is widely available, as are automobiles, telephones, and motion pictures. Women have been given the right to vote in some states. The media is mostly concerned with celebrities, such as movie stars and sports heroes. The twenties were an easier time, especially if you are a millionaire like Mr. Gatsby. The Great Gatsby is the film review today, so enjoy.
The young World War I veteran and Yale graduate is residing in a sanatorium and is being treated for alcoholism and fits of rage. The doctor asks him about what led up to his drinking and what influenced it, so Nick tells of a man named Gatsby and says he was the most hopeful man he ever knew. He later resorts to writing of his time with Gatsby in the summer of 1922. Nick had moved from the Midwest to New York were he takes the job of being a bond salesman after giving up hope of being a writer. He rents a small home on Long Island next door to the lavishing mansion of a mysterious millionaire named Jay Gatsby. Many events ensue, and eventually Nick is invited to one of Gatsby’s parties. There, the two neighbors meet for the first time and a friendship forms between them. Nick later learns Gatsby is in love with Daisy, Nick’s cousin. Gatsby goes out of his way to make Daisy love him in many ways, and many events occur which add to a grand finale, so to speak.
The film starred Leonardo DiCaprio as J. Gatsby, Tobey Maguire as Nick Carraway, Carey Mulligan as Daisy Buchanan, Joel Edgerton as Tom Buchanan and Elizabeth Debicki as Jordan Baker. Tom, in the film, is Daisy’s husband who is cheating on her with a mistress, and Jordan is Daisy’s friend and Nick’s love interest for a majority of the film. Although the cast was not full of stars, I do not believe they could have had any better actors and actresses for the parts. I honestly do not think Leonardo could have done anything different to make his character better, because he was amazing! I did not like how often he used the phrase “old sport”, but the film explains why he says it so often later on.
There honestly was not anything I did not like about the movie. I felt the lighting was spot on, the actors were splendiferous, the props and costumes were amazing, everything was wonderful. There was one piece I wasn’t too fond of, however. The music choice was interesting because they did a sort of 20s remix on a few modern songs, but I personally thought it was not their best choice. I think a classic 20s musical score would have worked better. Aside from the music (which was not entirely bad overall), the film was amazing.
The theme or moral that I picked up from the film was “Make your future, because you can not change the past,” because Gatsby spends thousands of dollars and all his time trying to get Daisy to love him again. In fact, there is a scene in the film where Nick tells Gatsby the past can not be changed or repeated, and Gatsby replies with, “Oh, it most certainly can.” It seems that was Gatsby’s main problem.
I believe the audience should be a more mature audience, late teens and onward, simply because of the stories complexity. If one does not pay attention to nearly the entire film, you will be lost and confused with the characters. It was not until ten minutes AFTER Jordan was introduced that I realized who she was. Plus the drinking and smoking as well as the partying pushed more towards mature audiences as well.