Review of La La Land (2016) by Brandon W — 17 May 2017

La La Land is directed and written by Damien Chazelle, and it stars Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling in a romantic musical film about a struggling girl name Mia (Emma Stone) that wants to be an actress, but has to deal with bunch of auditions that doesn't take notice of her, and has job issues that take her out of it, which Sebastian (Ryan Gosling) is going through a bit of a similar issue when trying to make a career out of making jazz music.

This is one of the most anticipated films of 2016 as this is from the same director that did Whiplash which was the best film of 2014 for me, and it's a musical film, which we don't get this often nowadays, and the recent film that I've seen and know that's close to this year, is Stage Fright 3 years ago, which was poorly reviewed by both critics and audience, and it's not well known as it barely made any money.

While I still didn't watch it, seeing the movie get a lot of recognitions made me really happy as the director is becoming more well known for his films, and that Emma Stone got her first Oscar, which good for her on that.

I wanted this to be the last film from the 2016 Academy Award Best Picture movie route because I want to see this the most, and it'll build up from the films I wasn't that excited over, to this which I was definitely looking forward to.

So was it worth it? Well, seeing from the star rating, you already know the answer to that as La La Land is one of the best films of 2016. Emma Stone is absolutely fantastic in this as you can tell that she's been doing this for years, and she keeps being disappointed about the auditions as she does a good job also in the auditions, but the casting people just doesn't care and is just looking for someone with a more attractive look, and it makes you really root for that character to make her wish come true.

The same can be said for Ryan Gosling as he's just as terrific as Emma Stone, and that kind of role can easily backfire as he's a bit of a jerk, but it wasn't a problem for Gosling as he's very likable here and has some hilarious moments, and you can tell that the way he talks about jazz in a deep way, he's very passionate about the genre, but not in a very snobbish or egotistical way because he genuinely believes that jazz is dying, which I can see from his perspective as you don't hear jazz songs nowadays, and the recent jazz that I heard, was surprisingly from Damien Chazelle's previous film Whiplash.

The chemistry between Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling is great that you totally believe that they're in love with each other and care for one another. The singing from the actors is very well done as while they're not broadway singing material there, it still fits their characters as Emma Stone's voice is a bit light-hearted and friendly, while Ryan Gosling has a bit of a soft raspy voice, and they are having with what they're singing about.

The dance scenes are entertaining to watch, and I find it impressive that there are some moves that last for a long time, but the actors are making it seem effortless. The score by Justin Hurwitz is really catchy to listen to with some great songs that are from Pasek and Paul.

The story is well done that you want to see how the plot unfolds for the characters as you want to see them succeed in what they want. The first part is very reminiscent of old musical movies, which the first scene with the traffic and the first song is definitely one of those moments.

When it goes to the second half, it starts to maybe be close to a drama play with a little bit of music to it, which I was surprised by it, and was appreciative of it as they fit together in the film.

The shots are really cool to look at, the writing is well-written, and while Whiplash has one of the best endings to a film that I've seen, this one has an ending that is a very bittersweet moment that has the right kind of sentimental to the main characters that is perfect with some great coloring and costumes.

I would love to see more like this film that understands how to make musical movies, and I would buy this to keep this in my movie pile.