George Clark’s review published on Letterboxd:
2016 Releases Ranked-HERE
La La Land is a 2016 American romantic musical/drama film written and directed by Damien Chazelle and starring Ryan Gosling as a jazz pianist and Emma Stone as a young aspiring actress, who meet and fall in love while following their dreams in Los Angeles. On a budget of $30 million, La La Land grossed $446.1 million worldwide and has a certified fresh score of 91% on Rotten Tomatoes as well as winning 4 Academy Awards.
It’s taken me a hell of a long time to finally watch this film, I had already started it before but never finished it. However, as Sophie has recommended I review it, I might as well give it another go and watch it fully this time.
Damien Chazelle really put his whole heart into this film, he directs the opening scene rather differently from the rest of the movie. It’s fast paced and it starts the film with a really joyous mood that the audience soon learns isn’t exactly true for the rest of the film as it’s filled with high moments and incredibly low moments, that opening scene is a tiny bit of a put off as it’s good, but it doesn’t fit with the mood of rest of the film and can automatically put some viewers off before the film has ever started. Now, La La Land is a musical so I’ve got to talk about the songs. Many of them worked for me and left me quite happy but some really didn’t work and just seemed off to me so that dampened my reaction to it. Yet, seeing Ryan Gosling and John Legend on screen together was fantastic and instantly brought my mood up, I wish we got to see more of them two throughout the film.
The scenes between Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone really worked wonders for me, I love their chemistry together. Their journey, heartbreak, effort and dialogue really pulled me in and engaged me in both of their characters for the majority of the runtime. Both Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone both do a great job in their roles and give two fantastic performances. Ryan really should have gotten more notice by the Academy for both his role in La La Land and The Nice Guys as he was one of the best actors in 2016 for me and deserved more.
La La Land has that old school Hollywood musical vibe that makes it really sweet to watch. However, some of the jokes they use can seem rather cringy at the beginning and it’s supposed to be like that, it just didn’t work for me. Yet, the film more than makes up for it with its heart and a great storyline that I rather begrudgingly enjoyed. There are a few modern day iconic scenes between Ryan and Emma that really worked for me and are some of the best scenes I’ve seen in any musical to date as their singing and choreography makes it that much more enjoyable to watch. However, despite all of these good points, sometimes the film can feel a bit flat and therefore can drag a bit with its pacing issues in the middle which made me feel less engaged in the storyline for brief moments in time. That being said, I was surprised with the last act as it subverted my expectations and in my opinion, worked really well as it surprised me and the repetition of the same music every time they think/see each other was truly beautiful to watch right up to the heartbreaking ending.
La La Land provides new life to the overused, drained genre of musicals, Ryan and Emma both give arguably two of the best performances of their careers as both are filled with passion and impeccable screen presence which allows them to both stand out to me.
Damien was a well deserving winner of the Oscar for best director as he portrays the story with a great amount of heart and passion it’s hard not to notice how it makes you feel at certain points which is what a good musical should do which has been unfortunately lacking in modern day musicals.
Whilst this isn’t a film I’d personally call a masterpiece, it is a good movie that, despite its flaws, is a joy to watch albeit confusing at certain times but the interweaving storylines for both characters along with the music and setting allow for this film to work really wonders for many people. La La Land isn’t a film I’d watch very often but it is a film I definitely think will improve on a second viewing as the ending is truly heartbreaking and is a film I’d recommend you watch at least twice to fully appreciate it.
4/5
