'The Great Gatsby' & 'Frances Ha' Reviews

The Great Gatsby is the most recent fmovie adaptation of the 1925 novel this time brought to you by Baz Luhrmann. Maybe the novel makes a more pointed statement about the American Dream but the movie deliverers virtually nothing on social commentary and entertainment.

The performances are shallow, artificial, and unconvincing except for Elizabeth Debicki as Jordan and Jason Clarke as George but who unfortunately have little to do. The visuals are flashy but the CGI is so bad nothing in the entire movie, including the actors skin tone, appears real. No character is likable, empathetic, or kind and therefore garners no interest in the viewer. The voice over is contrived and the convention of the narrator being in a sanitarium looking back is unnecessary and pedantic. 

I can't remember much about the novel which I read in high school other than disinterest. The movie offers less, nothing, and reminds me of costume jewelry: fancy from far away, junk close up, and shoddily made.

Don't See It.

Frances Ha is a black and white dramedy about a 27 year old becoming an adult. The film has no narrative arc and simply follows Frances(Greta Gerwig) over the course of a couple months. Watching it I began to wonder "why?" The story in and of itself is not very interesting and Frances isn't likable. She's self centered, naive to the point of irritating ignorance, lazy, and totally out of touch with reality. Not to mention her biggest "problem" is growing up: she can't pay rent, she's not being hired by the dance company she's apprenticing with, her best friend is spending more time with her boyfriend than with her etc. She's unsympathetic. It's a film about a white privileged twenty something Peter Pan.

Most of the comedic moments fall flat and we're left with a story that may be true and cathartic for Gerwig but which isn't interesting to watch. The film is like a long, less funny, less sexually explicit episode of Girls.

The film is shot beautifully, for the most part well acted, and well constructed but it's not a story begging to be told it's not even a story inquiring to be told. It's forgettable and self involved.

Don't See It.