It’s the newness that Luhrmann seems to bring to his movies, most notably Moulin Rouge and Romeo + Juliet, that grabs the attention most immediately. In calibrating our expectations for Gatsby, it’s interesting to look at the last classic work he adapted, the 1996 Leo DiCaprio/Claire Danes feature based on the Shakespearean play. A lot of adaptations of Shakespeare’s work try to do what Luhrmann does, reimagining the story in a contemporary setting, and they’re met with varying degrees of success. Even stranger is Luhrmann’s word-for-word retention of the Shakespearean dialogue, resulting in a bizarre juxtaposition of old language and new technology and surroundings.
This is also kind of the perfect story for Luhrmann’s attitude. There’s an aspect to his work that is so obviously his own, unmistakably so. This applies to all levels of narrative but the one that stands tall above the others is the tone of this unique mixture of irony and sentimentality. A good comparison may be Quentin Tarantino, who recognizes the campiness of the B-movie genre but lovingly applies it to his modern work, tweaking it ever so slightly to serve his updated ends. Luhrmann does the same, except with romance. So he tends to celebrate romance while at the same time mocking it. The story of Romeo and Juliet may be the most appropriate one for recognizing the ridiculousness of these kids who think they know what love is but also the sweetness of their bond and the authenticity of their felt emotions. There’s still no one else who handles romance this way that I’m familiar with.
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