Mia, an aspiring actress and a jazz musician Sebastian fall in love in Los Angeles...
Hype. It's a word that can ruin something. When something gets built up to such high expectations you begin to wonder if it can possibly live up to them. La La Land is a case in point. Since its premiere, it has been getting rave reviews all over and winning award after award, to the point it's heavily tipped to be the big winner at the Oscars. So, of course when you do eventually see the film, the questions are, can the film live up to the hype? And also, can you somehow ignore the hype and just focus on the film?
La La Land is the first original musical to come along for some time. It's an unashamed throwback to the classic musicals, such as Singin' In The Rain or American In Paris. Composer Justin Hurwitz along with lyricists Justin Paul and Benj Pasek have created some terrific musical numbers. The opening number, Another Day Of Sun, staged during a traffic jam on a freeway is truly stunning. The standout number though is A Lovely Night (the poster image comes from it) as Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone sing and dance together. Musically the film is faultless.
The film is written and directed by Damien Chazelle, who made the stunning film Whiplash. Here, he again creates superb musical set pieces. The two mentioned above are stunningly shot, looking as if they were shot in one single long take. But even in the other scenes, both with songs and without, Chazelle is in total control. He's made a truly impressive film, one that homage's the classic film musicals, yet brings it right up to date. But the film is more than just its musical appeal. The story has depth too, with Sebastian, who dreams of owning his own club, realising he may have to settle for less, while Mia has major doubts about if she will ever make it as an actress. It will ultimately lead to tension between them. But, Chazelle does offset this a bit with the occasional piece of humour, which works well.
He's helped by having two brilliant performances at the heart of the film. Emma Stone as Mia is sensational, matched by Ryan Gosling as Sebastian. Both had training for the film (although Stone has sung and danced in the past on stage), and their singing and dancing is both terrific. It might not be as perfect as you get in the classic musicals, but they both hold their own here. The chemistry between them is amazing and the compliment each other totally here. The supporting cast, including musician John Legend and J.K. Simmons are very good too, even is Simmons's role is more a cameo.
The film is looks stunning thanks to the work of director of photography Linus Sandgren. The staging of A Lovely Night looks like is film stage, but it actually was shot on location during the 'magic hour' time of day. The whole production is very well designed indeed.
So, does it live up the hype then? For the most part, yes it does. It's fun for the most part, though its a film that does have a sense of melancholy running through it at times. It's ending might not be what you expect certainly.
So, yes, La La Land is a wonderful at times magical film. But, it brings me back to the hype. Although it does live up to most of it, there are some already calling it film of the year, though to be fair they might have seen it in 2016. But this is 2017 and I know there will be some already considering the La La Land the film of this year. But for me for all the great things here, it's not even the film of the month (that would be A Monster Calls).
But don't let that thought put you off. They really don't make films like La La Land these days. But when you watch it you wish they would, as it is utterly magical.
A fantastic film.
Rating - 5/5
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