First and foremost, what first attracted me to this movie was the jazz score. As someone with some musical training, I noted the more bebop, improvisation style of the score automatically set it apart from the more swing score that most Broadway musical follow. If you can point out other scores that also utilize that style, sure, but I'm not really into musicals. I've enjoyed a couple musical films over the years, but I can't say that I am well versed in this particular field. That said, I did know what I was expecting out of this, and coming out of it, it gave me exactly what I expected. That's not a bad thing. In fact, I expected this to be quite good, and it was quite good. Not exceptional or groundbreaking, but good overall and very enjoyable.
La La Land centers around two dreamers in that hellish, post-apocalyptic landscape known as Los Angeles . Mia (Emma Stone) is a barista in a studio coffee house (apparently studio lots have those. Also that studio lots still existed), who aspires to be an actress, but is frustrated by often indifferent or incompetent casting directors. After getting lost after a party where she had hoped to find a casting director, she hears Sebastian (Ryan Gosling), a struggling Jazz musician who has extraordinary talent and dreams of opening his own jazz club, but is stuck doing simple tunes in restaurants. They have an awkward first meeting (right after Sebastian was fired by his boss Bill (J K Simmons)). However, after encountering each other again at another party, they slowly begin to build a relationship. Meanwhile, each is trying to build their own dreams. Sebastian convinces Mia to star in her own one-woman play to showcase her skills, while an old associate of Sebastian's, Keith (John Legend) convinces Sebastian to join his jazz band (which is increasingly influenced by modern R&B and electronic music). As they continue to work towards their goals, they encounter struggles which will ultimately test their relationship.
Like I said in the introduction, the score was what attracted me to the movie in the first place. It was worth it. The upbeat jazz score is immediately memorable and interesting. It is easily the best part of the movie. The production value is very high, and none of it is wasted. It mostly succeeds as a classic Hollywood musical transplanted to the grungy modern day LA. The musical numbers are good, using the same jazz score to great effect. Some are actually very emotional to see. The choreography for the dancing (coming from someone with no dance skills) was very dynamic and fit the upbeat tone of the music. Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone are both well-cast, and have excellent chemistry, making their relationship very engaging and believable. Ryan Gosling has a good singing voice....
..... But Emma Stone doesn't. Oh, her singing voice is fine, and honestly, during the first few times she sings, she isn't that bad at it. But there's one point ( a bit of spoiler here), where she has to sing a song solo. Once again, her singing voice isn't bad, it just doesn't fit with the emotional tone of the song, and took away from that emotion. The plot isn't exemplar, and by the middle, I could kind of tell where it was going, and what was eventually going to happen. Also, any character that isn't Mia or Sebastian is not fleshed out, and just kind of go in and out of the movie with little mention. Yes, it is their love story, and it does focus sufficiently on that, but having other characters interact with the main couple more helps flesh out the setting more and get more perspective on their relationship. Finally, despite being a musical, there are actually long stretches where there are no musical numbers.
Like I said, this was pretty good, and I had a good time watching it. It's not really a movie I will think about much, (aside from the songs and the melodies), but I'm glad I watched it. If you like musicals, jazz, or want to a musical that isn't made up of pop songs, this is the film for you. If not, well, you probably weren't planning to watch it anyway. Once again, it was good. Exactly what I expected.
La La Land centers around two dreamers in that hellish, post-apocalyptic landscape known as Los Angeles . Mia (Emma Stone) is a barista in a studio coffee house (apparently studio lots have those. Also that studio lots still existed), who aspires to be an actress, but is frustrated by often indifferent or incompetent casting directors. After getting lost after a party where she had hoped to find a casting director, she hears Sebastian (Ryan Gosling), a struggling Jazz musician who has extraordinary talent and dreams of opening his own jazz club, but is stuck doing simple tunes in restaurants. They have an awkward first meeting (right after Sebastian was fired by his boss Bill (J K Simmons)). However, after encountering each other again at another party, they slowly begin to build a relationship. Meanwhile, each is trying to build their own dreams. Sebastian convinces Mia to star in her own one-woman play to showcase her skills, while an old associate of Sebastian's, Keith (John Legend) convinces Sebastian to join his jazz band (which is increasingly influenced by modern R&B and electronic music). As they continue to work towards their goals, they encounter struggles which will ultimately test their relationship.
Like I said in the introduction, the score was what attracted me to the movie in the first place. It was worth it. The upbeat jazz score is immediately memorable and interesting. It is easily the best part of the movie. The production value is very high, and none of it is wasted. It mostly succeeds as a classic Hollywood musical transplanted to the grungy modern day LA. The musical numbers are good, using the same jazz score to great effect. Some are actually very emotional to see. The choreography for the dancing (coming from someone with no dance skills) was very dynamic and fit the upbeat tone of the music. Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone are both well-cast, and have excellent chemistry, making their relationship very engaging and believable. Ryan Gosling has a good singing voice....
..... But Emma Stone doesn't. Oh, her singing voice is fine, and honestly, during the first few times she sings, she isn't that bad at it. But there's one point ( a bit of spoiler here), where she has to sing a song solo. Once again, her singing voice isn't bad, it just doesn't fit with the emotional tone of the song, and took away from that emotion. The plot isn't exemplar, and by the middle, I could kind of tell where it was going, and what was eventually going to happen. Also, any character that isn't Mia or Sebastian is not fleshed out, and just kind of go in and out of the movie with little mention. Yes, it is their love story, and it does focus sufficiently on that, but having other characters interact with the main couple more helps flesh out the setting more and get more perspective on their relationship. Finally, despite being a musical, there are actually long stretches where there are no musical numbers.
Like I said, this was pretty good, and I had a good time watching it. It's not really a movie I will think about much, (aside from the songs and the melodies), but I'm glad I watched it. If you like musicals, jazz, or want to a musical that isn't made up of pop songs, this is the film for you. If not, well, you probably weren't planning to watch it anyway. Once again, it was good. Exactly what I expected.
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