La La Land

Reviewed by: Nick Evans

Score: 8/10

Recommendation: Matinee

Summary: A modern day romantic jazz extravaganza that breaks from the stale romantic comedy formula.

Review:

La La Land is a jazz musical after the style of classic Hollywood musicals. It follows a jazz pianist and an aspiring actress who fall in love. The film stars Emma Stone as Mia, and Ryan Gosling as Sebastian and is directed by Damien Chazelle. Music was written by Justin Hurwitz with lyrics by Pasek and Paul, and John Legend. La La Land was released on December 9th, 2016.

I heard a lot of excitement surrounding La La Land, so got a few friends together and we went and saw it. We were divided in half between those who enjoyed it and those who didn't. I knew it was a romantic comedy and a musical so I was pretty sure that I knew what was going to happen. After all, romantic comedies almost always follow the same story structure, see for yourself. Think of your favorite romantic comedy and see if it follows this plot (occasional gender swaps):

1. The two don't like each other (generally the guy is a jerk)
2. After spending time together, they learn to appreciate each other and accidentally fall in love
3. Things are great for a little while
4. The guy proves he is still a jerk, or has taken their relationship for granted
5. She leaves, usually to France for some reason.
6. He chases the airplane and or goes to where she is and wins her back with some great show of love
7. Happily ever after

Well, La La Land definitely follows most of these. In fact, for a while I was going to consider La La Land a thoroughly average rom-com. That is until the end. Man does this movie stick the landing. At least in my opinion, as I said, half of my group hated the ending, I thought it was genius. I'll discuss exactly what I like in the spoiler section below. But for now, know that it follows this typical structure, and then suddenly makes a decision to break from it, and boy does it pay off. The ending alone moves this film from a 6 out of 10 up to an 8. If you haven't seen this film yet, go watch it, then read the spoiler section to see why I liked this ending so well.

Now let's talk about the nitty gritty. Most importantly, the camera work. Pay special attention to the first shot. The entire first musical number (and then some) is done in a single take. In fact, many of musical numbers are single takes, including "Someone in the crowd" and "A lovely night." It feels like most of the movie was filmed on a personal camera stabilizer attached to the worlds most athletic camera man. It works well too! There are shots that are jaw dropping in this film, please please please try to look for them. The cinematography is, in my opinion, the strongest aspect of La La Land. It is meant to be a throwback to golden age Hollywood musicals which were taken in one single take for the dancers benefits. The Director, Daniem Chazelle, claims it wasn't meant to show off... but I can't help but feel like they were showing off a little bit. The costumes/production design were pretty fun too. Maybe it was a throwback to golden age Hollywood but I couldn't help but feel like they had all binge watched every Almodovar film before designing wardrobes. The costumes were such strong colors. Pretty much the polar opposite of Damien Chazelle's previous film Whiplash.

Music plays a big part, obviously, and this might be my biggest criticism. There wasn't really a song that stuck out from the others. The audition song was the only one that sounded unique, the rest kinda blended together. It was all enjoyable enough, but I didn't find any of the songs as clear cut stand outs. After seeing the film, but before talking about the music in movies I generally listen to the soundtrack again during the week. While La La Land is enjoyable, I noticed that most of it is pretty repetitive, which is why I didn't feel like any of it stood out during the showing. There are probably 3 themes that play throughout the entire story. Were I to pick the most important tracks I would point to: "The Audition," "Lovely Night," and "Another Day of Sun" as pretty representative of the entire soundtrack. If you want to know if you'll like the music, give these a listen beforehand and you'll have a pretty good feel of the musical.

So who will enjoy La La Land? Well, anyone who enjoys musicals, romances, or golden age Hollywood films. Anyone who is interested in how actors struggle to be noticed in the business or how musicians struggle to make a living. Oh and especially anyone who likes Jazz.

Overall I enjoyed the film pretty well and loved the ending. Therefore I will give La La Land 8 little glass jazz pianist figurines out of 10.

Spoilers:

Well, you've been warned. This next section will contain spoilers. We're going to talk about why I liked the ending in particular. Believe it or not I used to compose music. I found it as a nice way to vent my emotions. So as soon as Sebastian started to play, and the montage of what could have been began, it made complete sense to me. Not to mention I found this an ingenious way to show his regret for what happened and show how music can carry ideas all on its own.

On top of that, I liked that La La Land had the guts to but real consequences for the characters. Sebastian was a dirtbag at the beginning, showed himself to be a dirtbag throughout their relationship, and in the end, it cost them both. The montage became Sebastian's realization of what could have been. The chemistry was there, the romance was there, but his character flaws kept their potential as a couple from being realized.

This actual weight to the character's actions is something that is rarely shown in romantic comedies. The earlier mistakes by the characters are often overlooked, because of one great expression of love. There is no change in the character beyond showing that he/she loves the other despite major relationship problems. The ending hurts because Sebastian did not make efforts to become a better person, and he lost Mia by choosing his club and career over her. I found this break from the norm incredibly refreshing even though I was sad while leaving. But that's the thing, a movie isn't great just because you leave the theater happy. A movie is impressive when it causes you to think after you've gotten to your car. Sure, there is a time and place for mindless entertainment, but I'm happy that La La Land decided to avoid the structure that romantic comedies so often fall into. I believe the ending paid off. If you disagree, write why in the comments below (I'll read it I promise).