La La Land
Adryon Thomas

Review by Adryon Thomas Patron

La La Land 2016

★★★★★

Rewatched Dec 22, 2016

As much love as this film gets, I feel like I'm the only one who truly loves it...

Don't worry, I know I'm not the "only one"; but after listening to how other people describe the film and talk about it (both in my life and through the interwebz), it seems to come out as just another film to them...

But to me, this isn't a film.

To me, this was an experience. Now I know how cliche that sounds, but I do try to be as careful as possible when it comes to my words; and when I first saw this film... it was an "experience". And the sad part is that I know that others didn't feel that way about it.

In my first experience with La La Land, the audience was comprised of couples, older folks, and a few loners; all older than 18 years olds. They were all so quiet that you could hear a pin drop. They "experienced" the film. So much so that everybody in the audience stayed till the very end of the end credits. Which is incredible and so beautiful that a film can do that. And to this day, it's one of my greatest theater experiences ever.

As for my second viewing of the film... it was not the same. Half the audience was comprised of teenagers, kids, and parents; and there wasn't a moment during this viewing that you didn't hear a cough, or a rustle, or someone getting up to leave, or an outburst of someone trying to be funny. They didn't "experience" this film. They were probably there because they were fans of Gosling or Stone; half probably didn't even know that it was a musical. And it truly and deeply saddened me that that's what they "experienced".

I feel like we owe respect to a film like this to come out in days like these. In this time where everybody is so negative about everything (because they feel like they owe the world their opinions), we have this magical, colorful, and ambitious film that celebrate our past, present, and future while unapologetically telling us that we can do what we want, dream what we want, and be what we want... only to include the end results, which always come as the unexpected and unplanned.

Yes, this film is flawed - But I think it's because we humans are just as flawed. In our relationships, creativity, tastes, and morals... we are all flawed. And that's what makes this film even more perfect.

Please, if you have not seen this film, don't just watch it... experience it.

- Adryon Thomas

Block or Report

Adryon liked these reviews

All
' ].join(''); if ( adsScript && adsScript === 'bandsintown' && adsPlatforms && ((window.isIOS && adsPlatforms.indexOf("iOS") >= 0) || (window.isAndroid && adsPlatforms.indexOf("Android") >= 0)) && adsLocations && adsMode && ( (adsMode === 'include' && adsLocations.indexOf(window.adsLocation) >= 0) || (adsMode === 'exclude' && adsLocations.indexOf(window.adsLocation) == -1) ) ) { var opts = { artist: "", song: "", adunit_id: 100005950, div_id: "cf_async_d257b812-1ca8-48d4-b577-3254c4118c4a" }; adUnit.id = opts.div_id; if (target) { target.insertAdjacentElement('beforeend', adUnit); } else { tag.insertAdjacentElement('afterend', adUnit); } var c=function(){cf.showAsyncAd(opts)};if(typeof window.cf !== 'undefined')c();else{cf_async=!0;var r=document.createElement("script"),s=document.getElementsByTagName("script")[0];r.async=!0;r.src="//srv.tunefindforfans.com/fruits/apricots.js";r.readyState?r.onreadystatechange=function(){if("loaded"==r.readyState||"complete"==r.readyState)r.onreadystatechange=null,c()}:r.onload=c;s.parentNode.insertBefore(r,s)}; } else { adUnit.id = 'pw-d257b812-1ca8-48d4-b577-3254c4118c4a'; adUnit.className = 'pw-div -tile300x250 -alignleft -bottommargin'; adUnit.setAttribute('data-pw-' + (renderMobile ? 'mobi' : 'desk'), 'med_rect_btf'); if (target) { target.insertAdjacentElement('beforeend', adUnit); } else { tag.insertAdjacentElement('afterend', adUnit); } window.addEventListener('DOMContentLoaded', (event) => { adUnit.insertAdjacentHTML('afterend', kicker); window.ramp.que.push(function () { window.ramp.addTag('pw-d257b812-1ca8-48d4-b577-3254c4118c4a'); }); }, { once: true }); } } tag.remove(); })(document.getElementById('script-d257b812-1ca8-48d4-b577-3254c4118c4a'));
' ].join(''); if ( adsScript && adsScript === 'bandsintown' && adsPlatforms && ((window.isIOS && adsPlatforms.indexOf("iOS") >= 0) || (window.isAndroid && adsPlatforms.indexOf("Android") >= 0)) && adsLocations && adsMode && ( (adsMode === 'include' && adsLocations.indexOf(window.adsLocation) >= 0) || (adsMode === 'exclude' && adsLocations.indexOf(window.adsLocation) == -1) ) ) { var opts = { artist: "", song: "", adunit_id: 100005950, div_id: "cf_async_c346e033-7da3-4008-9816-7b4acfe49a46" }; adUnit.id = opts.div_id; if (target) { target.insertAdjacentElement('beforeend', adUnit); } else { tag.insertAdjacentElement('afterend', adUnit); } var c=function(){cf.showAsyncAd(opts)};if(typeof window.cf !== 'undefined')c();else{cf_async=!0;var r=document.createElement("script"),s=document.getElementsByTagName("script")[0];r.async=!0;r.src="//srv.tunefindforfans.com/fruits/apricots.js";r.readyState?r.onreadystatechange=function(){if("loaded"==r.readyState||"complete"==r.readyState)r.onreadystatechange=null,c()}:r.onload=c;s.parentNode.insertBefore(r,s)}; } else { adUnit.id = 'pw-c346e033-7da3-4008-9816-7b4acfe49a46'; adUnit.className = 'pw-div'; adUnit.setAttribute('data-pw-' + (renderMobile ? 'mobi' : 'desk'), 'sky_btf'); if (target) { target.insertAdjacentElement('beforeend', adUnit); } else { tag.insertAdjacentElement('afterend', adUnit); } window.addEventListener('DOMContentLoaded', (event) => { adUnit.insertAdjacentHTML('afterend', kicker); window.ramp.que.push(function () { window.ramp.addTag('pw-c346e033-7da3-4008-9816-7b4acfe49a46'); }); }, { once: true }); } } tag.remove(); })(document.getElementById('script-c346e033-7da3-4008-9816-7b4acfe49a46'));