The Great Nick Carraway

Tobey Maguire as Nick Carraway in The Great Gatsby

A great film for me is one that stays with you long after watching it. I can strongly say that about The Great Gatsby. If this film wasn't one giant movie moment for me then I don't know what would be. However, with that said, one thing that truly stood out for me was Nick Carraway. As the narrator of the story, I felt Fitzgerald's voice and truths weaving through him.

Movie Moment: The party scene with Nick, Tom and Myrtle. Drunk Nick, dazed and hazy, stands by the window looking out into the night. The shot shows a sort of tableau of life occurring through the windows of the neighbouring apartment: different stories and lives happening in each one of them. As if each person, each life in their window was an element in a painting, and only all of them could tell the complete story. Now, I remember Nick describing this; his window as just another story, just another life occurring amongst the thousand of lives appearing before him. How did his window appear to another? I wish I can remember exactly what the quote was (I guess I'll have to wait for the DVD) when Nick describes a sense of being and observing himself simultaneously. For a reason in that moment, I felt a deep understanding of what Nick/Fitzgerald meant. And how, really, we are all our own stories, alone and together.


What was your Great Gatsby Movie Moment?