Movie Review – La La Land

About the movie:

La La Land is a 2016 American romantic musical comedy-drama film written and directed by Damien Chazelle and starring Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone as a musician and an aspiring actress who meet and fall in love in Los Angeles. The film's title refers both to the city of Los Angeles and to the idiom for being out of touch with reality.

Chazelle wrote the screenplay in 2010 but did not find a studio willing to finance the production in keeping with his design. Following the success of his 2014 film Whiplash, the project was eventually picked up by Summit Entertainment. La La Land premiered at the Venice Film Festival on August 31, 2016, and was released in the United States on December 9, 2016. It has grossed $182 million worldwide against a production budget of $30 million.

La La Land received critical acclaim upon its release and is regarded as one of the best films of 2016. Critics praised Chazelle's screenplay and direction, Gosling and Stone's performances, Justin Hurwitz's musical score, and the film's musical numbers. At the 89th Academy Awards, the film was nominated for a record-tying fourteen Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Director (Chazelle), Best Actor (Gosling), Best Actress (Stone) and two Best Original Songs, "Audition (The Fools Who Dream)" and "City of Stars". The film also won in every category it was nominated for at the 74th Golden Globe Awards with a record-breaking seven wins.

More information on the movie: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_La_Land_(film)

My opinion:

Before going tot he movie, I heard lots of things about it already. First of all there all the Golden Globes it received and then also the Oscar nominations. I also heard some opinions from other people and I wish I hadn’t. Things like the first part was boring, the second half really built up etc. Being a big musical fan of course, made me really excited on one side and probably more critical on the other.

I liked the first part, because it built up naturally, the relationship between the main characters developed in a normal pace and all the songs seemed new and fitting. The opening scene was awesome, with the location, the song, the singing and the whole performance. Unfortunately, it went all downhill for me after that. The songs were ok, but they were all really similar to each other and some were played several times. Of course that’s part of the story, but it kind of was too much for me. The singing from both Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone was ok, but that’s it.

What really impressed me, were his piano playing skills and him wanting to learn to play the piano for the movie. He did a brilliant job and played it really really well. Ryan Gosling also put a lot of emotions into the playing, as well as he acting. I have never been a big fan of him, but I have to say that changed now. He was definitely my favourite thing about the whole movie.

Emma Stone just didn’t do it for me in this movie. Even though her acting was full of emotions, it seemed awkward to me. Yes, it kind of was part of her role, but something was missing for me. Her singing was good, especially in the audition song, but not more. I have definitely seen her do better in other movies and loved her there, that’s why I was a bit disappointed.

The dancing in the movie was great. It was very simple, but very effective at the same time. The colours, the dresses and the locations added a lot to the beautiful atmosphere. There were some really touching and romantic moments in this movie.

In the second part the story developed really fast and certain (important) things were not shown. They went from this newly couple, to being so much in love, to fighting in a really fast way and then came the ending. The ending was something else, I didn’t expect it and I didn’t like it.

Some scenes changes were awkward, long and really abrupt.

So yes, it0s safe to say that this is definitely not my fave musical movie, because so many things didn’t appeal to me. I can see why people like the movie, because it is unique, but just not for me.

I never walked out of a movie like this, so many mixed feelings and emotions! It was definitely not what I expected it to be.

Did you see the movie? What did you think, I’m really curious, let me know.