Reviews

I rather enjoyed the movie, much like a Monty Python type of humor: absurd, ridiculous, sometimes plain goofy, other times genius, theatrical (as is often O'Toole himself), and, of course, very much ideological, with themes like racism, imperialism, capitalism, homosexuality not a bit discreetly woven into the story.. as in a caricature, if you adjust to it's absurdity and ignore it's obviously inconceivable details like Friday's well-educated man appearance and sudden use of such fine English, or his tribe's use of English, macramé clothing and modern music, or some unnecessary scenes like Master and Friday paragliding together, it can be quite fun.

So if you don't take it too seriously or agonize over it's ideas, it is fun, intelligent, lush and tender (even on Master's side sometimes).

The cast was not bad. Dern was by far the best and Farrow was decent. Redford not at all convincing, just too bland. I thought that he was not well directed either, he just didn't convey well Gatsby's own frivolous side and his un-abiding optimism, he seems a bit too serious and kind of melancholic and innocent. But most were well cast (Karen Black, Lois Chiles, Sam Waterston).

The movie could have said more and maybe should have stayed closer to the book. The West/East conflict is not highlighted and it was important to the story. Also, Nick was less sympathetic to the characters, even to Gatsby himself at times, and his scorn doesn't surface much in the movie. Daisy's withdrawal in the end is not too well explained. The characters overall are too sketchy and lose a lot of their complexity in the book. More storytelling/narration by Nick could have helped here.

I liked the atmosphere and depiction of the period and parties - I prefer it to the Baz Luhrmann extravagant, modern beat version (although superior in some aspects).