La La Land

I recently had the great pleasure of being a "member of the press" (oooo so fancy!) for the 39th Annual Denver Film Festival. I attended the Opening Night ceremonies that featured the screening of La La Land with specials guests director, Damien Chazelle (Whiplash) and Emma Stone in attendance. 

I knew very little about La La Land going into last night except that I wanted to see it. I was unsure of how much of a musical it really was, but it had three things that I do like: Emma Stone, Ryan Gosling, and Damien Chazelle. To me that sounded like a winning combination of talent and vision and sometimes a good song and dance flick is a welcomed reprieve from other types of heavier films. 

What I didn't expect was that I'd love La La Land as much as I do right now. That's not just "opening night magic" talking either; it's genuinely a triumph of a film in nearly every single regard and it's an extreme delight to watch. While I may have gotten to see it a little over a month in advance, I encourage my readers to mark their calendars in December to go and support this film. It deserves your attention and money and it's also supporting a film that is, quite frankly in this day and age, taking a bold risk by being different. I love my superhero blockbusters as much as anyone, but there are often cinematic treasures to be found in other genres as well. 

I'd probably stare into either of their eyes...

Because I have so much praise to heap onto La La Land, I'll start with the very few critiques I have of it. Seeing that it's 128 minutes long, I think it is in excess of about 10 minutes, especially when I consider how slow a middle portion of about 30 minutes of the film was. There isn't much actual singing or performances within this segment and it made a film that felt like it was breezing along, light as a feather, slow considerably. There are important dramatic beats within this portion so it shouldn't be omitted completely, but just trimmed a tad. In addition, there is a particular scene that was too corny for my tastes. The film already has a decent amount of cheese/corn/ham (whatever you want to call it) since it's a musical. That's a welcomed part of that territory. But this scene was more akin to Grease when the car begins flying at the end and you're sitting there, just kind of confused. It's done much better than that and ultimately it's a gorgeous scene visually, but it kind of defies the rules that the rest of the movie seems to follow.

I was Ryan Gosling's stand-in
double for this very dangerous walking scene

I'd argue those are both some rather small criticisms for a film that is otherwise fantastic. It opens with an old-school "Presented in Cinemascope" fun intro screen and a catchy, entertaining performance on a gridlocked LA highway. From there it rarely lets up with it's destined-to-be-iconic original score, colorful imagery, and witty banter. This is a love story of flirting, attraction, and falling for each other and it's a sweet, natural take on what life and fate is capable of by hinting at relationships we should be in. As always, I hate hate giving away any spoilers so I think my plot synopsis shall end there. I will say that it's a simple tale overall, perfect for this type of film. The ending was not what I was expecting, in the best of ways, and is a wonderfully gorgeous wrap up to our story. Thinking back, it's probably one of the best endings to a film I've seen in recent years, which is saying a lot. 

As leads, Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling are delights, reprising the chemistry they displayed in films like Crazy, Stupid, Love, and less so in Gangster Squad. It's at its best here as they share a lot more screen time together and it explores the facets of this relationship much deeper. They play well off each other and you can tell that, in real life, they genuinely enjoy working together. I sincerely think this is Emma Stone at the best she's ever been before, even from a dramatic performance perspective. She's always been a great actress but I believe this is the pinnacle of what we've seen from her thus far. Gosling is a similar fashion. I'm not sure it's his best work, but it's up there and he's just as much a delight as Stone. Falling in line with Gosling's recent successful comedic stints, he's also very funny here, even carrying over a running joke from The Nice Guys in the process. He too has good dramatic capabilities and he easily stands toe-to-toe with Stone in this regard. 

Obviously, this movie would sink or swim based on its music and dance numbers, even if it did have the wonderful story and acting talent attached. La La Land is easily one of the most impressive musicals I've seen in this regard* (*note: I haven't seen all that many musicals) as the music is catchy and appreciative of jazz. Music lovers will enjoy the respect La La Land has for that type of music and as someone who briefly played in a High School Jazz Band, it was an absolute delight. I know I'll be listening to this original score for quite some time but it'll be a shame that I can't see the dancing that goes along with it. Some are better than others, but when it counts most the choreography is mesmerizing, playful, and fitting with the music. It should also be stated that the performances, musically, from Stone and Gosling are outstanding. They're great vocalists, but also quite limber and talented when it comes to dancing too. 

I sometimes wish I could even look half as cool as Gosling does most of the time

Lastly, Chazelle deserves a shout out as the director and writer for this long gestating film (something I learned from DFF...also that he's incredibly young!). His camera work is talented as there are several long-takes throughout the film. I feel like his vision was fully realized with the colors, characters, dancing, music, and story and it's magnificent. The direction is mostly concise and focused and the film really is a treat to look at. There's also a lot of playful banter here much like there was in Whiplash but more PG-13 oriented. It's impressive that this is essentially all Chazelle's brain child as it's both an ode to Hollywood, and older movies, but completely original in its own right. 

La La Land is a cinematic treasure, no doubt about it. Not quite perfect, but incredibly close, and when you're having this much fun it won't really matter anyway. It's a film that displays happiness, music, fun, dancing, joy, and love with two of Hollywood's biggest stars. And in the current day and age where we have awful Presidential doom looming over our heads, it's a film like La La Land that does a lot of good for the soul. 

CONS:

• A little longer than it needed to be
• The middle portion could be trimmed a tad as it slows down the film a bit
• One scene is overly corny, at least for my tastes, and isn't really in line with what the rest of the film's performances

PROS:

• Applause for Chazelle is in order. Between this and Whiplash, he's now on a hot streak and La La Land is probably even better. This is his vision through and through and he did a tremendous job bringing it to life
• Emma Stone gives her best performance yet, both dramatically and musically
• Ryan Gosling gives another great performance and matches Emma in both musical talent and dramatic ability
• Their chemistry remains in tact as they're a delight to watch and it's clear they enjoy each other
• The film breezes along and rarely let's up. It's a treat
• A simple, but mature and real love story. The ending is practically worth the price of admission alone
• Impressive cinematography throughout and several well-done tracking shots
• Outstanding original score and songwriting with equally as amazing choreography. There are some truly classic song and dance numbers in here
• Just a happy film. It's joyous about the love and music it presents and you can tell that, as a film, it's passionate about what it does

Rath's Review Score | 9.5/10