Mick LaSalle wisdom

If you read this blog you know that Mick LaSalle is my favorite living film critic.  Just search this blog for LaSalle and you’ll see a lot of references to him.

In his “Ask Mick LaSalle” column yesterday he was discussing the Gatsby world in response to a question about who he would cast as Daisy Buchanan.  Near the end of his answer he came up with this gem:

“By the way, youth is very important for these Fitzgerald characters because, though the point of view is nostalgic, it’s the nostalgia of youth for youth.  I don’t think I was ever for nostalgic for my early 20s than when I was in my late 20s, because when you’re 21, you are basically king.  You have mastered the art of being a kid, and now you rule the youth universe.  But when you are 28, you’re like a really beautiful-looking 50-year-old, only with no money, no respect, no experience and no professional poise, and even if you’re good at something, there are a bunch of older people trying to block your path.  By the time you’re 35, you’re in a different zone – beyond nostalgia and into the next phase; that is, outside the “Gatsby” zone.”