Are Baz Luhrmann’s films critic-proof? That’s what some commentators are wondering as The Great Gatsby soared to a higher-than-predicted $50m+ at the US box office in its first weekend.
The US critical response was mixed – review aggregation site Metacritic gives the film a 55% rating at time of writing. Gatsby is a literary adaptation aimed at moviegoers over 25, who are assumed by Hollywood to pay closer attention to critics.
But 'a film by Baz Luhrmann’ is now surely a distinctive enough brand that audiences know to expect a hyper-kinetic, colourful and unorthodox take on a literary property or genre, complete with a killer soundtrack – not ingredients that will necessarily appeal to all critics.
The Great Gatsby releases in Australia on 30 May, after it opens the Cannes Film Festival on 15 May. How will it be received locally?
What Richard Kuipers says on ASO about Australia (2008) may well hold true again: 'Like most of Luhrmann’s films, it didn’t please all the critics but the public embraced this big, bold, larger-than-life entertainment spectacular.’
Gatsby is only Luhrmann’s fifth feature, and you can reappraise his earlier films on ASO (follow the links below or in the homepage slideshow).
Three of those films – including Australia – are in the Top 10 Australian films of all time at the local box office (as at January 2013, per Screen Australia). The US Gatsby box-office result was especially gratifying after Australia under-performed there in comparison to the film’s takings outside the US.
While Luhrmann is yet to announce his next film, his first – Strictly Ballroom (1992) – is set to be reborn in 2014 as a stage musical. Like all of Luhrmann’s projects, it’s sure to provoke a passionate response from critics and audiences alike.
Picture: A young Baz Luhrmann in his pre-directing days plays Pete, with Judy Davis, in Winter of Our Dreams (1981).
