La La Land 2016
This movie has been getting a lot of raves and I was happy when it finally came to the cheap theater I usually go to. It is a song and dance musical featuring unlikely singers and dancers Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone as an aspiring jazz musician and an aspiring actress. It is basically a romance, but I think it gets raves for taking chances on the singing and dancing and for unashamedly professing its love for jazz and movie making. Hollywood, the capital of narcissism, loves a movie about Hollywood. Gosling and Stone are not great at singing and dancing, but I think that was intentional (or, cynically, just more lucrative to bring in these two big stars regardless of their abilities). The director puts on a show too with lots of tricks and “watch me” camera work, which I generally don’t mind, but when combined with the middling singing and dancing makes the whole movie seem like an amateur effort, even if it is intentional. The problem with trying to look amateur is the results look amateur, even if you do your job perfectly. In that way, it is maybe a little like Moulin Rouge (which I liked), but not as silly as that. The romance and the trials of making it in Hollywood seem sincere and you root for these two as they take chances to chase their dreams. In that way the movie is hard not to like. I also like that they acknowledge that a lot of people don’t like jazz and it is kind of a dying art form, because that’s how I feel, even if maybe I wouldn’t go so far as to say that I hate jazz. Accordingly, not all of the songs are “free jazz” which is a good thing, but you still get a taste of it, which is required given the role jazz has here. I enjoyed the music, which all seems to be original, even if one big song sounded an awful lot like the Muppets’ “Rainbow Connection.” This movie is not as good as the reviews it is getting. If it was made by Disney or was a sequel to High School Musical, which it could be, people would say it is too lightweight and too sweet, but it has a somewhat indie feel to it. I’m not fooled, but I was also entertained and I enjoyed watching some of the crazy things happen, even if you can see how hard Emma Stone is working.
Written: 08 Jan 2017
Owned on: Digital