REVIEW - THE GREAT LEO DI CAP-SBY

"F to the Fizzay"

Baz Luhrmann has a taste for adapting classics. Romeo and Juliet was a brave attempt at modernising the most famous love story in history, and he returns to adaptation with another incredibly brave jaunt at putting the Great Gatsby on to screen. It has been done before - 5 times, in fact, if you include TV films - however, with Baz it was never going to be straight adaptation. His own personal seal was waxed onto every filmic strip of Gatsby.

Such elegant prose

The Great Gatsby is a tale of the roaring twenties. F Scott. presents the reader with a somewhat flawed narrator in the form of Nick Carraway - our humble eyes into the ongoings in West Egg, a prosperous corner of Long Island. Baz Luhrmann, however, decides to alter the perspective of the narrator by making him, literally, insane. In what seems an odd opening - and will have readers of the book immediately reeling - Luhrmann sloppily introduces Nick as a recovering alcoholic in an insane asylum. The entire story is then told in flashback, interrupted by odd scenes of Nick shaking and spluttering over his sparknotes.

I haven't been this drunk since the 20s

The overall aura of the film, should be, one of excess and capitulation - and at points it is. The gloss of the film feels deliberately fake, which is a good thing for the themes of the film (but takes a while to get used to). There is, however, an odd blend matching of music and picture. Hearing a mix of Jay Z, Florence and the Machine and Lana Del Ray over a swinging twenties party just does not fit and I have no idea how Baz thought it would. Although it was probably influenced by the exec. producer pressure of Mr. Carter himself.

Condensed review

Overall the film doesn't hit enough of a high to be truly well received. It's a strange, but not great, adaptation. Eckleberg's eyes, throwing shirts, and the "today is my birthday" line just completely miss the mark and don't have the same weight as in the book. Baz prefers the visual splendour, to the detriment of the driving essence of the novel. Leonardo Da Vinci also saves the film at points with an honest and brilliant performance as Gatsby. The film is centred around him, and Leo pulls one out the proverbial bag. 

26/50 States

Auto Orientalism and Farewell, My Concubine -

Dai Jinhua, in her analysis of Farewell, My Concubine (Kaige, 1993), laments its ‘dissolution of history into an oriental landscape, into a necessary ingredient in the Cannes Film Festival recipe of Chen Kaige’s fantasy.’ Subscribing to Jinhua’s argument, Farewell, My Concubine can be read as an auto-oriental film.

Figure 1: Young Orientalism 

The oriental landscape is primarily displayed to the viewer through the medium of Beijing Opera. The film’s focus on the traditional artistic movement is no mistake; director Chen Kaige framed the film within this context to add to the oriental nature of the film. Although the subtext attempts to force importance on the changing cultural and political spectrum of China over half a century, Farewell, My Concubine makes no attempt to become a historical epic. Rather, the revolution and uprisings are centered on their lasting effect on the opera industry, framed through the experience of Douzi (see figure 1). There is little proletariat influence; which one might expect to find in a film about a cultural revolution. Indeed, the only appearance of the Chinese working class is to display their obsession with the opera stars. Much like the working class, the Western viewer is placed a similar position of obsession. ‘Which Rey chow defines as an oriental's orientalism exhibits a self display for the voyeuristic gaze.’

Through this gaze, the audience becomes entranced with the brightly coloured costumes, the plot of the opera, and the grueling performance of the Beijing Opera troupe. Moreover, Douzi and Shitou frequently look directly into the camera, breaking the fourth wall (see figure 2) and adhering to the voyeuristic gaze. They are putting themselves on stage for both audiences, the filmic world and real world, to view. 

Figure 2: 4th Wall Orientalism

The blurring of reality and fantasy is foregrounded through Douzi. Notably, Douzi is picked to play the female lead in the Opera - and throughout becomes increasingly obsessed with his own stardom and as Shitou, claims: “becomes Consort Yu.” Douzi’s own preoccupation, and blurring of gender roles, with his character leads to a further level of Orientalism. He has become so entrenched in the orientalism of his persona that he feels now fully attached to his character. For him, the fantasy of orientalism has become a reality.

Figure 3: Auto-Orientalism At Work In Farewell, My Concubine

Whilst Shuqin Cui claims: ‘the orient is made oriental by the occident.’ It is increasingly apparent that Asian filmmakers are utilising the Western Gaze, a technique which is particularly prevalent in Farewell, My Concubine. The film, therefore, pleases not only an East Asian audience, but a global market. Regardless of whether one agrees with Kaige’s technique of auto-orientalism (see figure 3), it has been successful - as of today the film is the only foreign Chinese language film to win the Palme d’or at Cannes film festival.

42/50 STATES