Review
4/5
'On paper, La La Land is dismissible as a cliched romance, but visually it becomes one of the most passionate and immersive motion pictures of recent memory. And for the first third of the duration, it truly is mesmerising. Who knew that a traffic jam can go from being such an intense set piece in Sicario to such an uplifting and engaging set piece here. Gosling and Stone's backgrounds are fleshed out in a clever bit of non-linear storytelling and suddenly their paths are destined to cross for the next 80 minutes.
Gosling excels as the charmer, a complex and ambitious dreamer struggling to realise his dream of opening a jazz club, while Stone brings a self-pity and loveable realism to the world of enchantment we are thrown into, thus creating two well balanced characters who transcend archetypes thanks to the performances of the actors.
Chazelle's long time friend Justin Hurwitz composes a score that is never too intrusive or overwhelming, but maintains a steady theme throughout, varying only to mimic the tones and emotions on screen. It is both a nostalgic throwback and modern reinvention of the musical.
Unfortunately, La La Land stops being a musical romance and just becomes a romance as the film pans out, diffusing its energetic build up with a more realistic and grounded exploration of the characters. And whilst this works as a way of complementing the theme of how dreams and realities differ significantly, it makes you reflect on the positive vibrancy of the first act and crave for more of it. La La Land never loses its visual thrill, nor do the actors lose their appeal, but there is a loss in the musical element of this story and its absence is felt as the story progresses.
Verdict: Flawed only by the unnecessarily complicated ending and inconsistent musical moments, La La Land is a visually impressive, touchingly nuanced treasure that will surely become a timeless classic.'
Analysis
My first impressions of La La Land were that it was definitely overrated. I was going to talk about this in my review, but then thought better of it, because the reason the film seemed overrated was the fault of the publicity, not the film itself.
Here I have structured my own review to mimic my opinion of the film. It starts with praise and complements because the first part of the film was spectacular, and then as the review goes on I start to focus on the flaws, emphasising my view that the film lost its way the more it unfolded.
I open the review by mentioning how the film is, on paper, 'dismissible as a cliched romance', because what I found most extraordinary about this film was how it is an ordinary story told in an extraordinary way. I then continue by subverting it with 'but visually it becomes one of the most passionate and immersive motion pictures of recent memory.' I used the phrase 'motion picture' rather than 'movie' or 'film' because I felt that it sounded more traditional and retro, and this complemented the tone of La La Land, because it was a clear balance of respecting tradition with but infusing it with modern innovation.
What I thought would be a good comparison point and a good way to introduce some wider film culture was with the contrast of the traffic jam from Sicario. When used in La La Land, it is an 'uplifting' set piece that brings people together, but in the film Sicario, the traffic jam is an 'intense' way to emphasise the distrust and lack of community in the Mexican towns. This juxtaposition engages the reader by showing awareness and inclusiveness of other film talent to make relevant comparisons in the cinematic world.
Much of La La Land's success was down to the leads, which is why I wanted to talk about how Gosling's 'complex and ambitious' 'charmer' was the perfect balance for the 'self-pity' and 'loveable realism' that Stone brings to the role. The characters help to expose the other's qualities, for better or worse.
And of course, since this is being hailed as a musical, I thought the review definitely needed to comment on the score, which I describe as 'never too intrusive or overwhelming', 'varying only to mimic the tones and emotions on screen.' I think that this helps to establish that the score is never the main focus, rather it supports the events happening in the story without ever being in the forefront.
In this review I did include a verdict because it will be one of the bigger film reviews on the page, and so I thought it was apt to write a brief but informed conclusion of my opinion. My belief was that the ending was 'unnecessarily complicated' and the musical moments were 'inconsistent', making the film more of a 'romance' than a 'musical', but I credit how despite this it is still 'visually impressive' and 'touchingly nuanced'. I thoroughly enjoyed this film, but the climax, in my opinion, was underwhelming and undermined the strong first half.
Verdict: Flawed only by the unnecessarily complicated ending and inconsistent musical moments, La La Land is a visually impressive, touchingly nuanced treasure that will surely become a timeless classic.'
Analysis
My first impressions of La La Land were that it was definitely overrated. I was going to talk about this in my review, but then thought better of it, because the reason the film seemed overrated was the fault of the publicity, not the film itself.
Here I have structured my own review to mimic my opinion of the film. It starts with praise and complements because the first part of the film was spectacular, and then as the review goes on I start to focus on the flaws, emphasising my view that the film lost its way the more it unfolded.
I open the review by mentioning how the film is, on paper, 'dismissible as a cliched romance', because what I found most extraordinary about this film was how it is an ordinary story told in an extraordinary way. I then continue by subverting it with 'but visually it becomes one of the most passionate and immersive motion pictures of recent memory.' I used the phrase 'motion picture' rather than 'movie' or 'film' because I felt that it sounded more traditional and retro, and this complemented the tone of La La Land, because it was a clear balance of respecting tradition with but infusing it with modern innovation.
What I thought would be a good comparison point and a good way to introduce some wider film culture was with the contrast of the traffic jam from Sicario. When used in La La Land, it is an 'uplifting' set piece that brings people together, but in the film Sicario, the traffic jam is an 'intense' way to emphasise the distrust and lack of community in the Mexican towns. This juxtaposition engages the reader by showing awareness and inclusiveness of other film talent to make relevant comparisons in the cinematic world.
Much of La La Land's success was down to the leads, which is why I wanted to talk about how Gosling's 'complex and ambitious' 'charmer' was the perfect balance for the 'self-pity' and 'loveable realism' that Stone brings to the role. The characters help to expose the other's qualities, for better or worse.
And of course, since this is being hailed as a musical, I thought the review definitely needed to comment on the score, which I describe as 'never too intrusive or overwhelming', 'varying only to mimic the tones and emotions on screen.' I think that this helps to establish that the score is never the main focus, rather it supports the events happening in the story without ever being in the forefront.
In this review I did include a verdict because it will be one of the bigger film reviews on the page, and so I thought it was apt to write a brief but informed conclusion of my opinion. My belief was that the ending was 'unnecessarily complicated' and the musical moments were 'inconsistent', making the film more of a 'romance' than a 'musical', but I credit how despite this it is still 'visually impressive' and 'touchingly nuanced'. I thoroughly enjoyed this film, but the climax, in my opinion, was underwhelming and undermined the strong first half.
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