(Normally I pack my blog posts full of high quality, colourful images, but bizzarely enough, all La La Land promo photos seemed to be copyrighted this time.)
First of all, let me just say that it isn't worth the tremendous hype it has received. I wouldn't call it a bad film- it just really isn't anything out of the ordinary. Boy meets girl, they fall in love, a curve develops their relationship, a complication develops and a conclusion occurs. This can be guessed just from the trailers and movie posters, by anybody who has seen any rom-com or romantic musical ever. There isn't anything in this film that is a breath of fresh air into the cinematic universe, something revolutionary or unseen before. It has all been done, dusted and La La Land just repacks old ideas into some pretty wrapping paper.
Don't get me wrong, it's a good watch- the cinematography is beautiful, the writing is good, the whole thing looks pretty and is edited extremely well. The editing is probably my favourite aspect of the film- scenes flow like a steady river and are strung together like a necklace of pearls. Each scene follows the other in a chronological order and tells a clear, coherent story. The overall movie is pretty, but that is it really. It gives off vibes of superficiality, demonstrated right from the opening scene, where LA inhabitants find the need to burst into a song and dance in the middle of a hot traffic jam. It's a fine opening, but it isn't the best. It seems to be thrown in as the last resort, something haphazardly put together. It would work great on stage, but it isn't.
And what about Gosling and Stone themselves? I was never a big fan of Emma Stone and my mind hasn't been changed. She is a mediocre actress and performs in mediocre films. Failing to properly grasp the concept of her character or the dance moves themselves, she seems to lack dialogue in the film and hence leaves traces of being expressionless or emotionless at times. Gosling, however, delivers exceptionally. He plays the role of a pianist in the film and he learned to play the piano just for his role. This is clearly evident in the film as he is a fantastic piano player and rumour has it that he played each piece by himself. If I hadn't known before, I would have never guessed that he didn't play beforehand. His singing isn't great, but he certainly brings more life to the screen than Stone in terms of charisma and acting. He expresses the most emotion and love in the film, outweighing Stone by miles.
Overall, I didn't deeply dislike or hate the film in any way. It's a good watch and it's worth the admission fee. It just isn't anything remarkable and isn't really worth any of its hype. It's a fine film, it looks pretty but that's really it. The acting, storyline and overall writing of the film are the lacking areas in this film. Although everyone who has gone to see it loves it, the movie doesn't put forward any new ideas and simply recycles material. The editing and cinematography are what make the film better than average, but it really isn't what it's set out to be.
If you haven't seen it yet, go see Split instead.
Thank you for reading as always and please remember that this is just my opinion.
All my love
Gaby x
