The Great Gatsby

the design theme for this movie kind of makes it look like an art deco Tron

http://basketball.themarsreel.com/nba/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/enhanced-buzz-696-1353704553-2.jpg

OMFG: http://www.cleveland.com/books/index.ssf/2013/05/gatsby_in_3-d_is_a_manic_three.html

Nick is the readers' surrogate, our guide as we observe the almost unimaginable swirl of wealth and privilege and carelessness surrounding Jay Gatsby and Daisy and Tom Buchanan.

Nick is the outsider looking in, and he is telling his story to us. Directly.

So imagine my surprise to find, when I saw Baz Luhrmann's adaptation of "The Great Gatsby" (opening Friday), that in addition to bringing his trademark over-the-top, three-ring circus atmosphere to the movie -- not to mention the 3-D effects, which I fervently wish I had not seen -- Luhrmann has made a critical change in the narration.

In this version, Nick is writing "The Great Gatsby" as therapy. Under orders from a psychiatrist.

Nick is back in the Midwest, but here he is in a sanitarium, drying out and recovering from the experiences he had with Gatsby and the Buchanans back East. He begins telling the doctor about it, starting with the famous opening, "In my younger and more vulnerable years, my father gave me some advice . . ."

But not too long into it, he stops: "I don't want to talk about this, doctor."

"Then write about it," the doctor says.

"Why would I write about it?" Nick asks.

"You said yourself writing brings you solace," the doctor says. Then he hands Nick paper and a pen that -- thanks to the 3-D -- seems to float, defying gravity and glowing like a magic sword being handed to a comic-book superhero.

ARRGH

I think I might actually have a stroke if I watch this movie.

yessssssss #nodads

Buh.

Xpost Lol. Universal Studios presents the great gatsby

i am not seeing this

lmao

I mean, I dislike the 1974 Great Gatsby but it sounds like a masterwork compared to this.

this sounds incredible

Guys, guys, we're missing the key point about what's going to happen here, surely -- the big pair of eyes will COME TO LIFE. And at the end of the movie, they will stare...at YOU.

I keep telling friends that it's probably going to be an amazing clusterfuck of horribleness that is entertaining

Yeah im seeing this opening night. I like how its not just sort of in bad taste, but just all out, over the top insane

Okay, I'll see it if someone keeps the spirits of elderflower coming.

Comment from a friend in the office: "Coming soon, Baz Luhrmann's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. It's a mockumentary."

The roundup thus far

http://www.fandor.com/blog/daily-baz-luhrmanns-the-great-gatsby

Wise words from Robert Towne on turning down writing the '70s version: "I felt it was a very chancy thing to attempt. A lot of what was in the novel was by suggestion. So much of it was in prose and so much of it was utterly untranslatable, and even if you could translate it, I thought it would be a thankless task and you’d just be some Hollywood hack who fucked up a classic. I felt that I had a lot to lose and very little to gain. That whole book is a mirage."

I can't wait for Luhrmann's adaptation of Swann's Way:

He begins telling the doctor about it, starting with the famous opening, "For a long time I used to go to bed early. . . ."

But not too long into it, he stops: "I don't want to talk about this, doctor."

"Then write about it," the doctor says.

"Why would I write about it?" Marcel asks.

"You said yourself writing brings you solace," the doctor says. Then he hands Marcel paper and a pen that -- thanks to the 3-D -- seems to float, defying gravity and glowing like a magic sword being handed to a comic-book superhero.

Wise words from Robert Towne on turning down writing the '70s version: "I felt it was a very chancy thing to attempt. A lot of what was in the novel was by suggestion. So much of it was in prose and so much of it was utterly untranslatable, and even if you could translate it, I thought it would be a thankless task and you’d just be some Hollywood hack who fucked up a classic. I felt that I had a lot to lose and very little to gain. That whole book is a mirage."

Yes, that's completely otm.

Very.

makes me curious to see the '26 silent version actually

I couldn't remember yesterday how many times it's been adapted.

not as many as Jane Eyre, which is about 20-25

just can't get enough of that uplifting Jane Eyre story

best really to take what you can from the plot and discard the rest (i.e. good Henry James adaptations).

I can't wait for Luhrmann's adaptation of Swann's Way:

He begins telling the doctor about it, starting with the famous opening, "For a long time I used to go to bed early. . . ."

But not too long into it, he stops: "I don't want to talk about this, doctor."

"Then write about it," the doctor says.

"Why would I write about it?" Marcel asks.

"You said yourself writing brings you solace," the doctor says. Then he hands Marcel paper and a pen that -- thanks to the 3-D -- seems to float, defying gravity and glowing like a magic sword being handed to a comic-book superhero.

― A deeper shade of lol (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, May 6, 2013 10:43 AM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

"When I awoke this morning from uneasy dreams, I found myself transformed into a gigantic...I don't want to talk about this doctor."

"Then write about it."

"Why would I write about it," Gregor asked, laying on his hard, as it were, armor-plated back.

"Mother died today"

"Tell me more about that"

"Or maybe it was yesterday, I don't remember"

"Do you not remember, or do you not want to remember?"

"If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you'll probably want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me . . . I don't want to talk about this, doctor."

"Then write about it," the doctor says.

"Why would I write about it? It makes me feel crummy, like a great big phoney."

Kathryn Schulz explains why the novel is "aesthetically overrated, psychologically vacant, and morally complacent; I think we kid ourselves about the lessons it contains."

This gem: "The Great Gatsby might be the least funny book about rich people ever written." A friend and I quote Tom and Nick's Nordic race exchange all the time. "It's about you and you and -- you."

I believe NYU once staged South Pacific in a mental institution.

(I mean conceptually, not did the show in one)

He begins telling the doctor about it, starting with the famous opening, "In my younger and more vulnerable years, my father gave me some advice . . ."

Believable dialogue.

"...never say anything to a doctor."

"What?"

"In fact, fuck you, I'm not crazy, you're the one who's crazy."

I believe NYU once staged South Pacific in a mental institution.

― Pope Rusty I (Dr Morbius), Monday, May 6, 2013 11:28 AM (20 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Sade/Pacific

Such a weird way of twisting the opening of that book too -- it's all about how NICK is the quiet, unwittingly receptive person who everyone unloads on, iirc, so very awkward to have him being the one talking to a therapist. Also, I really hope this isn't some kind of bookend framing device where in the end it turns out he had a nervous breakdown because of his experiences with Gatsby or some bullshit.

Also, I really hope this isn't some kind of bookend framing device where in the end it turns out he had a nervous breakdown because of his experiences with Gatsby or some bullshit.

It sounds like it is, though.

Which means unreliable narrator, right?

wish it featured a Redford cameo as "old Gatsby"

wait how would there be an old Gatsby

Sade/Pacific

― Huston we got chicken lol (Phil D.), Monday, May 6, 2013 3:49 PM (37 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

wld pay to see this

xp well, not that old

The lacuna in the narrative regarding Gatsby and Daisy’s relations that summer saves Fitzgerald the trouble of writing dialogue for them that would have underlined their shallowness (one of the reasons why Daisy’s line about Gatsby’s beautiful shirts works: it happens just once)

that is kind of the greatness of the book, that it's a tale about Gatsby that has epic qualities but really he's just trying to fit in and seduce the most vapid people

That aspect ... might translate!

:)

that is kind of the greatness of the book, that it's a tale about Gatsby that has epic qualities but really he's just trying to fit in and seduce the most vapid people

― mh, Monday, May 6, 2013 12:35 PM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

actually just the existence of this remake is sort of making me think about the book a little differently -- it's all about strivers partying with new money people.

For sure, Tom Buchanan is old money but still a midwesterner like the rest of the main cast, but they're attempting to blend into the NY social scene, none of which shows up to Gatsby's funeral.

me speak english

wait how would there be an old Gatsby

I could see Baz Luhrmann changing it so that he lives, this movie seems that goofy.

obi-wan-style ghost gatsby