JuliaD’s review published on Letterboxd:
I went in sort of frustrated by the amount of hype around this film, and so I didnt feel any guilt watching it for free because I just don't like when things get hyped up (probably a teenage thing, not wanting to conform, hating things that feel like thier trying to hard, etc.) Anyway, I liked this so much more than I thought I would, and I have lots to write so its broken up into sections:
a) Aesthetically, this is really cool. I watched it in crappy quality, but still. the colours and set and clothing are all really nice to look at. Sofia-Coppola-stlye, the setting helps to tell the story. Mia walks by murul of the hollywood icons she dreams of being after yet another failed audition. Mia and Sebastian are having this romantic diner, they start fighting, the next shot shows a different part of the apartment where a chicken is burning, the romance is shattered, real life is coming in. So much purple lighting everywhere to match their melancholy vibes.
b) modernity and old stuff work well together. The jazz music flows into that classic iphone ring tone going off. The last scene does this especially well, as a mix of various styles all work together to tell the story to while maintaining a sense of un-reality. Its like you're in Mia and Sebastian's imagination's in that last scene, and the mish-mash of mediums help the viewer to understand that this could not be reality, it is only, and only ever will be a dream.
e) Emma Stone tells Ryan Gosling that he "reminds people of what they've forgotten". This movie does that aswell, with its mix of bringing old styles to a modern audience. that maybe contributes to its success, it reminds us of that romantic "Roman Holiday" golden age of Hollywood stuff that we've come so far from as there is so much more to look at now, it's all about being bright and fast and catchy and in your face.
f) At the beginning, I thought this movie was trying to highlight the problems with the modern LA culture (not that its just confined to that city) that I associate with Brad Pitt's monologue in Fight Club; when you where a kid you were repeatedly told you were special and now that you've grown up you've found out that you're actually not and that makes you sad/scared, and so you're trying to be famous in this city full of people trying to get attention so you'll feel like you're important but you never actually will be. However, I found the larger take away from this movie to be summed up in Emma Stone's solo in Mia's final audition scene. It is a song about saluting the dreamers and recognizing, for all the vanity, impractical-ness, emptiness, selfishness, etc. etc. there is in wanting to be a movie star or own your own Jazz club, these "dreamers" are necessary because they show us new perspectives on life, and also, dreaming big and making messes and breaking hearts is the best way to live.
g) I didn't really want them to be together that badly at the end. I don't think I see this as a love story, or a 500 days of summer story-about-love, I think its mostly about nostalgia (romanticizing the past) , dreaming, etc. (also, authenticity vs likability). On nostalgia, though, that end montage is my favourite part of the whole movie, because they are sharing this idealized fantasy that never could have happened. They are creating this nostalgic fake world that glosses over all of thier problems, but, like Emma Stones final song says, this isn't an entirely negative thing. Dreaming is admirable. Even though she's leaving with her husband to go home to her daughter and he's probably never going to see her again, they will love each other forever, and not in like, an angsty, eternal agony kind of way, they just love each other but thier not together and they could've had this life but they didn't and its ok.
I have more to say but it's done. I'm going to bed.