I watched Jack Clayton's The Great Gatsby ('74) this past weekend starring Robert Redford and Mia Farrow, and I was actually mesmerized by the jazz-age production - specifically Douglas Slocombe's sparkling, milky soft-focus cinematography and Theoni V. Aldredge's costume design.Other than that, it's a bit of a vacuous, lethargic thing with a bad performance by Mia Farrow and really no pulse or emotional pull-through to speak of. Like the guests at Gatsby's parties, its glamorous and glitzy but more than a bit flimsy.
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I just read The Great Gatsby and was planning to give this a watch sometime soon. Kind of ironic that you think Farrow struggles here, considering how good she was in "Rosemary's Baby."
ReplyDeleteIt's really not all her fault, but essentially she's playing with the same anxiety and high-pitched emotion that she did as Rosemary.
ReplyDeleteBy the end of "The Great Gatsby," we're wondering why the hell he even bothers with Daisy, she's a shrieking mess.
I haven't read the book since high school, but from what I hear the film version is very faithful to the plot elements of the book without any of the emotion, depth, nuance, etc. It's certainly worth a watch.