Kurdt’s review published on Letterboxd:
You know, after the first two songs I wasn’t really feeling this at all. It felt ostentatious, the songs weren’t particularly good and there was a little voice in my head telling me this had only been so appraised because it was a musical in a time where there aren’t any musicals (see: The Artist winning everything just by being a silent film in 2011).
And then after it was wonderful. I can’t think of anything else to say other than it was sublime. It’s kind of incredible how this begins tongue-in-cheek - the ‘strangers break into dance’ opening, the knowingly satirical second song, the clear genre tropes - but then earns its way to being a genuine musical through its immersive, clear love of the genre and its beautiful, emotional story. I like how Chazelle is like a bombastic conductor, with both this and Whiplash. Both films, unsurprisingly, play like massive musical pieces, crescendoing into huge, genuine swellings of emotion that, out of context, would seem maybe too theatrical. The ending of Whiplash stepped a little outside the realism box, I thought, but it felt right, just like the ending here on paper might have read like a cliché but damn if it doesn’t feel like the most devastating yet perfect finale when you’re in that moment. I cried. Turns out I’m one of those single tear people.
Chazelle is clearly having the most fun ever. His camera whips and bounces and sweeps around, things it shouldn’t do, creating a frantic, out of control pace when the film is oozing expression, yet he’s smart enough to then calm everything down with a long take of tap dancing or a sombre song. It’s an extremely well paced film, with no feeling whatsoever that it could have been created without the music. I thought I’d nitpick at the plot, which is hardly original, but the film earns every moment through immaculate precision, yet I never felt manipulated into feeling a certain way that some musicals are guilty of.
This will win lots of awards, it will have backlash and it will lead to a slew of new musicals, but what this’ll have above everything else is the heart and wonder which will outlast all that and still be bringing astonishment to tearful eyes centuries from now.
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