Do Not Consider The Lobster. Go for the La La Land Instead!

I hate musicals, generally. And especially musicals made for film. The exceptions to this are “Les Miserables” (love the Broadway version and really liked the film from a few years ago, despite Russell Crowe’s terrible singing/acting) and “Moulin Rouge,” which I love love love! And now, I’ve added a 3rd: “La La Land” is so so so good! It is nearly a perfect film.

Please understand that this short piece is not the essay I really want to write about “La La Land.” That essay is still brewing in my head and would contain too many spoilers, which would not be fair given that the film is still so brand new.

So I will tell you only this — that I watched “La La Land” just about 18 hours after watching the film, “The Lobster,” which I had wanted to see for a long time. When I first read a review of “The Lobster” it sounded like a quirky romance, maybe a bit dark, but also funny (I was imagining something along the lines of “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind,” a film I adore), and even though my friend Ian warned me that “The Lobster” was far from funny, I was not prepared for the kind of darkness that film puts out into the universe.

It should also be noted that I watched both of these films, “The Lobster” and “La La Land”, alone. On New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day, respectively. It was my choice to spend time alone. I did have invitations from friends. But I was in desperate need of alone time after 7 straight days of single parenting and non-stop family time in the mid-west. I adore my kid and my family, but I am an ambivert — someone who needs equal alone time and social time.

Also of significance here is the fact that I am currently single and mourning the loss of a person I had been in a long distance relationship with — a smart, sweet, beautiful woman who lives in Los Angeles, and whom I love. . . loved? When does love end? Does it ever really, truly end? I don’t know how to tense this sentence. I think, when you really love someone, you always love them at least on some level. And in my experiences of being IN love, it is always at least a little bit different every time. With her, there was love. So very much.

But it was complicated trying to work out the logistics of geography and difference in time zones. We had a very romantic bi-coastal relationship with lots of visits in both directions for two years, and I had hopes and dreams of moving to L.A. sometime in the next couple of years. However, in September, it became clear that a relocation for either of us was an impossible dream. Truthfully, I’m mourning both the loss of the woman and a life I envisioned for myself in L.A.

If you’ve seen both of these films, “The Lobster,” and “La La Land” (but especially the latter), and also if you know the intricate details of my life over the last few years, then you will appreciate the emotional and psychological circumstances under which I viewed both of these films, and you will text me immediately and offer to take me out for a drink and let me cry in your beer.

The last thing I will say is that I kind of wish I had not seen “The Lobster,” despite the fact that Rachel Weisz is stunningly beautiful, even more so as she ages; and that I cannot wait to see “La La Land” again. And probably again. And again after that. I think it is already one of my favorite films. I’ll let you decide for yourself what you think this says about who I am and also whether or not you think I should use this as a litmus test on my OK Cupid profile.