*MINOR SPOILERS*
Surprise, surprise! I actually never planned on seeing this film, but I will say that I’m pretty glad I did. Got that damn John Legend song stuck in my head..
La La Land is a 2016 musical/romance film directed by Damien Chazelle, and stars Ryan Gosling, Emma Stone, John Legend and Rosemarie DeWitt. The plot follows a musician and an aspiring actress who meet and fall in love in Los Angeles, and has won numerous awards for its story, acting, music, and overall film.
So La La Land was an interesting film for me to review on theVade (don’t I say that every week?) mainly because I can’t stand musicals. But the thing about this film, is that it wasn’t as much of a musical as I thought it would be. Sure there were plenty of breakout in song and dance moments, but the entire film wasn’t like that. I guess that is what made me really enjoy La La Land.
So lets start with characters, and acting. Phenomenal. One of Emma Stone’s first scenes is with her reading lines for an audition. Lets just say that that specific scene just solidifies how amazing of an actress she is. It almost seems like it was too well acted, as anyone in their right mind would have picked her to be their actress. Maybe she should have acted less, but I guess that was supposed to be the main dilemma that she was facing in the film; She’s really good, and just couldn’t recognized. Overall, I really enjoyed Stone’s performance in this role. As for Gosling, do we really have to say anymore? This man has made his name in Hollywood as the man who can literally do anything he wants. Comedy, yes. Romance, yes. Drama, yes. Action, yes. And now even a musical? Hell yes. I thought Gosling was perfect for this role, and even his character seemed like an extension of who he is as a person past what the camera shows. Both Gosling and Stone are fantastic, and even their characters are incredibly memorable.
But what would a review of a musical be without talking about the music? To start off.. that cold open.. my God was it amazing. The camera angles, the song, the props, the amount of people, it was all just fantastic. The ongoing theme of the film as well as the piece City of Stars was a beautiful theme that reminded me of a bunch of old action films were if you heard the theme, you knew something was about to happen; and that was one of the most amazing parts in this film. Not only were the thematic songs great, but even the original numbers. Sure the larger groups pieces were dubbed, but for the most part anything with less than three people seemed to have been recorded live on that take. If so, good job to the visual department. Can’t imagine how much fun those shots must have been. But the music was great, what more can I possibly say?
What wasn’t so great about this film had to be its story. Now I’m a man of story, so I usually go really hard on films for their story. And I was definitely hard on this movie after seeing it won 7 Golden Globes including ‘Best Screenplay’. In my opinion, this film was exciting and very boring at times. The overall story was beautiful, but at times the pacing of the film would come to a complete stop. There were a couple parts in this film where I would look at my watch and ask how much longer the film was. Not a horrible thing, but definitely an immersion-breaking part of the experience. Not to mention that ending. Jeez, was it a mixed bag. Personally I didn’t like it, and even the person I went and saw the film with said the same thing. We both turned to each other as the credits came up and were like, “Uh, what the hell was that?” Granted I understand the reason as to why they went with that type of ending, but it wasn’t as satisfying as I was hoping it would be.
But overall I really enjoyed La La Land. It was energetic, heartfelt, and yet kind of slow at times. But even with those slight issues with pacing and its anticlimactic ending, I still really enjoyed La La Land for what it represented in 2016. In the end, I decided to give La La Land a “Good” on theVade Review Bar. The acting, music, and visuals were excellent, and for the most part its story was pretty entertaining. It is definitely worth all of the praise it has been receiving, and I will definitely be singing songs from this movie for years to come.
