Written by: Kevin Berge
Who knew bright vibrant colors were a relic of a past age? (Image Courtesy of: acast.com)
Quick Take: La La Land uses the foundations of old school Hollywood musicals to tell a tale of pursuit, both creative and romantic. With great leads in Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone and beautiful direction by Damien Chazelle that maximizing color, this is a delightful ride as well as an impressive filmmaking feat.
***In order to properly review this film, I felt inclined to focus in on the movie's elements including its plot device. Therefore, this will be a spoiler-heavy review of La La Land with the reader expected to have seen the movie. Read ahead at your own risk if you have not.***
Even before it didn't win Best Picture, La La Land was the talk of 2016, the homage to classic musicals starring two of Hollywood's top stars in Emma Stone (The Help) and Ryan Gosling (Drive). It was the Hollywood love letter that somehow succeeded despite being made for a dead movie genre.
However, much like Damien Chazelle's Whiplash, this is as much a play on the modern as the classic. In fact, the two films share many similar characteristics. This is still a story about jazz this time joined with acting as two sides of success that the two main characters Mia Dolan (Emma Stone) and Sebastian Wilder (Ryan Gosling) are seeking.
Their efforts toward success are not straightforward with awkward attempts by both to find their dream jobs. They intersect in their failed shots at success and ultimately fall in love, trying to support one another as they both find their avenues with Wilder joining his friend Keith's (Usher) fusion jazz band while Mia finds her dream role in Paris.
Oh and along the way, there's music, fantastical music numbers from Chazelle's mainstay music director Justin Hurwitz that escape the confines of the reality of the story. The music will not catch your ear like many musicals can with only one strong track, "City of Stars", but everything is choreographed with an eye for detail with many memorable scenes.
The trick of the movie is that it's not truly the straightforward old Hollywood musical with modern sentiments. I'll leave the Whiplash comparisons here, but the conclusion of this movie is similar to that: artistic success comes with sacrifices, many of which cannot be easily quantified.
The ending gives Mia and Sebastian their dream, Mia the star actress and Sebastian the jazz musician with his own club, yet the fantasy romance is lost for the sake of those dream. This is a modern criticism hidden in the old school, leaving the viewer to wonder whether they are meant to be unsatisfied.
Even before it didn't win Best Picture, La La Land was the talk of 2016, the homage to classic musicals starring two of Hollywood's top stars in Emma Stone (The Help) and Ryan Gosling (Drive). It was the Hollywood love letter that somehow succeeded despite being made for a dead movie genre.
However, much like Damien Chazelle's Whiplash, this is as much a play on the modern as the classic. In fact, the two films share many similar characteristics. This is still a story about jazz this time joined with acting as two sides of success that the two main characters Mia Dolan (Emma Stone) and Sebastian Wilder (Ryan Gosling) are seeking.
Their efforts toward success are not straightforward with awkward attempts by both to find their dream jobs. They intersect in their failed shots at success and ultimately fall in love, trying to support one another as they both find their avenues with Wilder joining his friend Keith's (Usher) fusion jazz band while Mia finds her dream role in Paris.
Oh and along the way, there's music, fantastical music numbers from Chazelle's mainstay music director Justin Hurwitz that escape the confines of the reality of the story. The music will not catch your ear like many musicals can with only one strong track, "City of Stars", but everything is choreographed with an eye for detail with many memorable scenes.
The trick of the movie is that it's not truly the straightforward old Hollywood musical with modern sentiments. I'll leave the Whiplash comparisons here, but the conclusion of this movie is similar to that: artistic success comes with sacrifices, many of which cannot be easily quantified.
The ending gives Mia and Sebastian their dream, Mia the star actress and Sebastian the jazz musician with his own club, yet the fantasy romance is lost for the sake of those dream. This is a modern criticism hidden in the old school, leaving the viewer to wonder whether they are meant to be unsatisfied.
Can't wait for Chazelle's next film where he gets wholly modern and writes an action flick about a man saving the world through jazz. (Image Courtesy of: indiewire.com)
Unsurprisingly, Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling are fantastic in the lead roles. Stone especially is fantastic both dramatically and musically with the camera often zoomed into her emotional state. Gosling doesn't quite have the musical chops but nails Sebastian's awkward sense of heroic nostalgia.
This is a directorial tour de force from Chazelle who alongside cinematographer Linus Sandgren (American Hustle) frames a beautiful film. This is a colorful film, filled with primary colors that can often feel ripped from a painting, while also using monochromatic scenes to frame the most emotional moments between Mia and Sebastian in a way that would take a whole extra article to explore.
Chazelle's writing is simple, saying just enough and throwing in a lot of funny lines. However, it is fairly simplistic in construction which can make the film feel disposable when not focusing on the rest of the movie's construction. In this way, it can be just easily seen as pretentious or plain.
It is clear how much of a passion project this is for Chazelle. This comes off as the high scale culmination of what the director has been building toward. Given how much I have personally enjoyed his work, it feels wrong to poke holes in his supposed masterpiece, but honestly La La Land is far from perfect.
La La Land attempts to explore two differing paths through retro styling with simplistic focus in its foundation juxtaposed by a complicated modern melancholy. The message is not cleanly composed despite relying on only a few musical techniques. It reaches for a balance in its elements that makes it hard to pin down.
Some may find Sebastian to be the story's tragic hero, a purist who must forgo his passion to reach his goal. Others may see in Mia the triumphant hero who is aided by Sebastian to make the final push and achieve her dream.
However, there is no real strong foundation for the third option, the fantasy that the musical upholds, that both have tragically failed by steadfastly following their dreams to the end. The movie's drive is clear, but it simplifies and rushes through a story of pieces that leaves the reader to decide what is worth latch onto.
This is a fun movie that captures drama and comedy through two great leads and fantastic direction alongside solid music. It can appeal to any audience but will most likely only capture the excitement of those invested in the details of its colorful construction.
This is a directorial tour de force from Chazelle who alongside cinematographer Linus Sandgren (American Hustle) frames a beautiful film. This is a colorful film, filled with primary colors that can often feel ripped from a painting, while also using monochromatic scenes to frame the most emotional moments between Mia and Sebastian in a way that would take a whole extra article to explore.
Chazelle's writing is simple, saying just enough and throwing in a lot of funny lines. However, it is fairly simplistic in construction which can make the film feel disposable when not focusing on the rest of the movie's construction. In this way, it can be just easily seen as pretentious or plain.
It is clear how much of a passion project this is for Chazelle. This comes off as the high scale culmination of what the director has been building toward. Given how much I have personally enjoyed his work, it feels wrong to poke holes in his supposed masterpiece, but honestly La La Land is far from perfect.
La La Land attempts to explore two differing paths through retro styling with simplistic focus in its foundation juxtaposed by a complicated modern melancholy. The message is not cleanly composed despite relying on only a few musical techniques. It reaches for a balance in its elements that makes it hard to pin down.
Some may find Sebastian to be the story's tragic hero, a purist who must forgo his passion to reach his goal. Others may see in Mia the triumphant hero who is aided by Sebastian to make the final push and achieve her dream.
However, there is no real strong foundation for the third option, the fantasy that the musical upholds, that both have tragically failed by steadfastly following their dreams to the end. The movie's drive is clear, but it simplifies and rushes through a story of pieces that leaves the reader to decide what is worth latch onto.
This is a fun movie that captures drama and comedy through two great leads and fantastic direction alongside solid music. It can appeal to any audience but will most likely only capture the excitement of those invested in the details of its colorful construction.