I watched something cool. I wanna talk about it...
Wow, Hannah! Two posts in one weekend? You're on fire...
Today I shall be discussing the critically-acclaimed, Golden Globe award-winning, BAFTA and Oscar nominated, all-powerful, heavily awaited 'La La Land'. The hilarious part is that all of those things are true... What a long but necessary introduction.
Let me break it down.
The Basics:
Director: Damien ChazelleScreenplay: Damien Chazelle
Music by: Justin Hurwitz
Release Date: 12th January 2017 (UK) · 25th December 2016 (USA)
Runtime: 2hr8m
Genre: Drama film/Romance* · Movie musical
Classification: 12A
IMDb rating: 8.5/10**
Starring: Ryan Gosling as 'Sebastian,' Emma Stone as 'Mia'
*according to google.com
** as of 12th February 2017
Synopsis:
Warning, spoilers... duh.
A clichéd love story, set in the modern-day version of 1950s Hollywood, with all the jazz, swing and tap steps a theatre kid could ask for. Not to mention uncalled for, but mildly entertaining, dancing on cars, from characters we never see again in the film. But more on my verdict later. It's the story of two artists who just keep running into each other; Mia, an aspiring actress and playwright and Sebastian, a jazz pianist, who has hopes of opening his own club. They both struggle to make ends meet in 21st Century Los Angeles and fall in love in the process of chasing their dreams.Throughout the film, Mia gets turned down from every audition she faces and Sebastian tries to save what he believes to be a dying art: traditional jazz music. We hear a recurring theme played on the keys, a subtle tune to highlight important scenes, for example Sebastian and Mia's first official meeting, aside from the opening. Here it is:
The two start off as, shall we say, "less-than-friends" but swiftly fall in love, move in together and begin talking futures. Mia's writing a play and Sebastian's still trying to fund his dream jazz club. When he gets a job in a touring band, things soon get complicated: Sebastian ends up missing opening night of Mia's play, which turns out to be unsuccessful anyway, so both are left feeling miserable for a good ten minutes of the movie. But it's alright because in classic old-school movie-musical-style, a few scenes with a jazzy underscore soon sort that out.
A Hollywood casting director was at Mia's show and offers her an audition for a huge new movie set in Paris, which, thanks to Sebastian's taxi service, she makes, gets the part and flies to Paris to shoot the film! Of course, this does mean the pair are once again separated and it is only in the full-blown, tap-shuffle-hop-step, artistic set design, "all our budget went on this" finale that we find out what they did in the 5 years they were apart. Mia married someone else, had a kid and began huge film career and Sebastian finally got his jazz club, which, as Mia sees at the end, has become very popular. The pair give each other a smile before they part ways, which slightly says "I'll always love you", as quoted from earlier in the film. So it's all happy(?) in the end...
Favourite Moments...
TAP SEQUENCES. Hold up. Who knew Stone and Gosling could dance so well? I loved their cute tap shoes and I want a pair so I can annoy people by breaking out into a jazz number in the middle of the street (not that I don't already do that...) My only downside is that there weren't more of these. I feel like the film lost its old-school style in the middle and another one of these would have helped to throw us back to the past. Now, if we're looking for symbolism here, it could be argued that losing the 50s vibe in the middle relates to Mia and Sebastian getting sucked into modern-day fame and materialism and losing each other in the process. But personally I thought it would have benefited to stay consistent the whole way through.
THE SOUNDTRACK. Oh god it's beautiful. I'm not going to pretend I didn't ruin it for myself by listening to most of it on Spotify because there were moments when I wanted to sing along (AKA City of Stars). I was tapping my fingers on my knees and I still am, listening to it whilst I write. I don't think I've ever publicly expressed my love for it, but I love jazz. Improvising on my piano, jazzed-up arrangements of songs. Finding a film with such a focus on this genre was, well, music to my ears!
Not to mention, both protagonists are characters that resonate especially deeply in me.
1) An aspiring actress/writer, who writes, directs and stars in her own one-woman show. I mean, talk about life goals.
2) A jazz musician, trying to save a dying art. Bring back traditional jazz, people!
The Downside...
Every film has at least one. If you are going to find yourself offended by the slightest mention of anything mildly critical about La La Land, go ahead and skip this paragraph.THE OPENING. Okay, unnecessary focus on irrelevant characters who have zero effect on the plotline, other than to be traffic. Your facial expressions were fab and the dancing picked up towards the end. Wasn't my favourite song and I feel it should have been more dynamic for an opening number.
But Hannah, how could you possibly want anything more dynamic than people dancing on cars in long 50s swishy dresses and tuxedos?
Here's what I'm thinking.
We hear the main theme as the picture fades in from black. A quick brush over the cars and we find a few characters tapping their fingers on steering wheels, flipping pages in maps or newspapers. The sound gets louder and then the tap sequence begins, slowly but surely gaining more people until Mia is pulled out of her car and joins the routine. Then we have a full-blown tap sequence that is slightly more footwork than facial expression focused. The camera occasionally pans to Sebastian, frustrated, in his car, watching the action unfold. Dynamic ending, as in film. Lots of jazz hands and smiley faces. Sebastian's car horn interrupts the façade and the camera shows Mia to be standing alone in the road, as Sebastian tries to overtake her. Film continues as normal.
But that's just my vision.
The Final Score:
Apart from the aforementioned opening and the fact that the old-school style was a little bit lost in the middle, I enjoyed this film. I don't agree with the reviews that called it a "masterpiece". I found it a little too forgettable, however it is a heart-warmer and there were some very cute interactions between our two leads, for example, at the piano for 'City of Stars'. I thought Gosling and Stone had good voices, which fit very nicely together and the pair had obvious natural chemistry. Their dancing was the bit that really surprised me and it has inspired me to dust off the ol' tap shoes... Whether or not I will be tapping like 'La La Land' in a few months remains to be seen!
I would have liked to have seen Mia's roommates developed more. I loved their song 'Someone In The Crowd' and felt these characters could have been explored much further in the film than they were.
The storyline was cute and I liked the mix between modern-day and old Hollywood glamour, subtle references to Monroe dotted about (like in the murals and the dress of an ensemble member during 'Another Day of Sun') were excellent touches.
Overall, I would score this film a 7.75/10. Very specific, but it was more than 75% good, but not quite an 8/10 for me. The engaging storyline was enough to keep me hooked and song and dance will always be the way to my heart. For a higher score, a more consistent old-school style was needed, as well as a little more character development and focus here and there. Otherwise, a lovely use of an afternoon!
I would have liked to have seen Mia's roommates developed more. I loved their song 'Someone In The Crowd' and felt these characters could have been explored much further in the film than they were.
The storyline was cute and I liked the mix between modern-day and old Hollywood glamour, subtle references to Monroe dotted about (like in the murals and the dress of an ensemble member during 'Another Day of Sun') were excellent touches.
Overall, I would score this film a 7.75/10. Very specific, but it was more than 75% good, but not quite an 8/10 for me. The engaging storyline was enough to keep me hooked and song and dance will always be the way to my heart. For a higher score, a more consistent old-school style was needed, as well as a little more character development and focus here and there. Otherwise, a lovely use of an afternoon!
Let me know what films you've been enjoying this month and remember,
There's lots more to come...
Hannah x
