Luhrmann | 2013 | USA, Australia

5th or 6th watch; first since 2020. In my younger and more vulnerable years, I fell in love with this film at first sight. I was in the minority at the time (outnumbered by an oddly large portion of the cinemagoing public that engages with art so literally that they can only judge an adaptation by its fidelity to the text) but it’s rightfully won over a few champions through the years. For me, the only dissonance is caused by the recognisable Sydney filming locations.

Many of the things I like here are exactly the things others do not: the saturated colours, the earnest dialogue, the modern music airlifted into a previous age. I don’t even mind that they stuck Nick in a mental hospital and put a pen in his hand.

I’m a big DiCaprio head – he’s probably my favourite working actor – and his turn here is atypical for him (and so, rather arresting). Stilted and layered to the point of being off putting – so, more or less exactly Jay Gatsby. I’m always impressed when an actor can be good playing a character that is, in the story, a bad actor. This would be my favourite Tobey Maguire performance if I didn’t have an incurable soft spot for Spider-Man 2. So yeah, lots to like. I always enjoy giving this a spin.