Carey Mulligan’s Daisy is vulnerable and enchanting - and Carey makes the leap here from cute to full-on beauty. Tobey Maguire's Nick is the most relatable character of all; the whole story is seen through his eyes, as he looks back from the other side of that summer.
But Leonardo steals the show. He is insanely brilliant in this film – and I wouldn’t have classed myself as a fan. But between this and Django Unchained, it’s clear he’s in his acting prime.
I was about 13 when I saw the Robert Redford version, and it left me deeply confused and conflicted. This interpretation of F Scott Fitzgerald’s Jazz Age classic is much more clearcut. Some might say it lacks subtlety – I say it's less hazy, and more defined. It’s a love story, and it’s exciting and beautiful and tragic in equal parts.
It's not the same as the book, of course, because the book relies on Fitzgerald's nuanced prose. But I don't see why you can't love both.
This version is as glorious and excessive and riotously intense as I imagine the Jazz Age might have been – if you were exceptionally wealthy, or perhaps one of Fitzgerald’s and Hemingway’s hard-drinking literary crew. I had goose pimples throughout, and I sobbed like a baby for the last half hour.
Jay-Z's soundtrack is inspired, the 3D flourishes are gorgeous and the fashion…oh, the fashion. It’s divine. It’s perfection. It's Prada and Brooks Brothers. It’s something you really have to go and see, and the bigger the screen, the better.
It was never going to be easy to remake a classic, but I think Luhrmann absolutely did it justice. It felt…epic. I think Fitzgerald would approve – and I’d love to know if you agree.
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