La La Land Review
La-di-la-la, whoopdy-doo, hdfdhfjwkfnwofh, any unquantifiable expression of joy and happiness is what you are likely to feel after watching La La Land. It is impressive movie and no shocker as to why it has received so many awards and nominations.
I was going to start this off by telling you that if you are a not a fan of musicals or song and dance movies, skip this, but really the only people who should skip this are people who are not fans of happiness, love, colours or long movies.
As always, I will attempt to deliver this review without being a spoiler.
REVIEW
The movie starts of a bit slow with a big number in the opening scene and one each by the lead characters. You initially get the sense that you are going down a rabbit hole of song and dance; I almost slept off.
The songs are not catchy, or maybe it was just me, I still cannot recollect one song and I have watched it twice.
As stated earlier, the movie is a bit long (most movies are nowadays). When I saw the two-hour time marker, I shuddered…I hate long movies, especially when it is unnecessary. While the musical scenes are interesting to watch, because the songs are not catchy you would wish they were shorter and someone in the movie definitely agrees, because one scene was cut short by a ringing phone (PLUG).
While the songs and dance came in hard and fast, it maintains a reasonable balance as the movie progresses. The balance maintained between the musical aspect and the drama was executed perfectly. The dialogue is also very good.
It is a true love story (with a shocking twist at the end) not just between the titular characters, but also between them and their respective passion. The story in itself is moving and relatable. You find yourself rooting for not only the success of their relationship, but also their success in their craft. You see her fear and lack of confidence in going for the audition after repeated failure and you see his desire to encourage her to succeed and push herself and not give up albeit slightly insensitively calling her a baby for crying.
There is a great scene where he shows up at her family home and she, just as we are, is confused as to how he found her. You almost want to put it down to something often overlooked in movies, but she does ask and he explains.
You see his own self-condemnation. He is passionate about jazz in its truest form, but finds success with a jazz band that has essentially “sold out”. While the band and thus, he is making money, he is not happy with the music he is now playing.
The movie progresses at a nice pace throughout their year of meeting being highlighted by the seasons, which is ironic, because California tends to look the same all year round.
The film takes a sharp turn at the end. We are thrown many years into the future or to the present depending on how you see it and we see how their lives have progressed.
The final scene is powerful and moving homage to genre and the film itself and would definitely inspire a few teary eyes.
The film has great performances from Gosling and Stone. There is no big support cast, but that is generally how these films are, the titular characters are the focus and carry the film from beginning to end and this is no different and really takes nothing away from their performance or the film itself.
The directing, cinematography and storytelling are a masterpiece. The “dream sequences” are lavish and exquisite and would easily transport you there.
CONCLUSION: If musicals, dance, or movies from the 50’s are your thing, you would definitely love the movie. It is very reminiscent to movies like “Singing’ In the Rain” and “An American in Paris” and Gosling is no Gene Kelly, he definitely gave a great performance that would make Kelly proud. That is not to say you will not enjoy it if you are not a fan of such movies. Get through the first fifteen minutes and I assure you would love it too.
RATING: 8.5/10
