La La Land--the return of the musical

I'm rather stunned and impressed my two favorite films of the decade so far, Arrival and La La Land, appeared within months of each other, even in my tiny one-theatre town.

Shalom, y'all!

L. Bangs

 

Agreed

 

He won't get best actor. I doubt she'll get best actress, but I think her odds are better.

 

I especially think Emma Stone was terrific. It is a performance that is easily to underestimate, she makes it look so easy. Follow one of her big scenes and try to duplicate everything she's doing, even if only with her facial expressions. She's working it, and if you don't make a point to notice, you'd never know.

And that's all before we figure in the dancing and singing.

The audition scenes. The desperation at her parents' house. The confrontational dinner together (great understated Gosling work here, too). The mocking dance to I Ran.

I've seen all the actress nominees aside from Isbelle Huppert in Elle (my attempt to drive to Seattle for this one was snowed out). So far, I'd give the award to Stone. The only competition I can think of would have been Rebecca Hall in Christine, but she wasn't nominated.

Shalom, y'all!

L. Bangs

 

Isabelle is apparently the one to see. I haven't as yet. Nothing against Emma, I think she's wonderful. I just don't feel it's an award worthy role.

 

La La Land is definitely a movie that must be seen on the big screen in a properly calibrated theater (and not just sound-this thing is bursting with color). Do not wait for this come out on home video. I actually saw this twice-the first time I was initially put off by the seemingly weak singing voices of the leads. I understand that this makes the musical more "modern" or accessible (not so "music-aly"), and I'm coming from a background of absolute love for the classic movie musicals. There is a lot going on in this movie. Some of the songs burrow their way into your brain (especially "City of Stars" and "Mia and Sebastian's Theme" that plays throughout the movie). So I went back again and thoroughly enjoyed it the second time, a true rarity for me. I think the one thing that could get Emma Stone an Oscar is her heartbreaking "Audition-The Fools Who Dream". When I was watching that I kept flashing back to Anne Hathaway's gut wrenching "I Dreamed A Dream". She was barely on the screen in that movie, but that song got the job done, and I think the same will happen for Emma Stone. If she wins, there's a very good chance La La Land gets at least 12 statues, because they have most of the other categories locked up-except for one. Just carve Denzel Washington's name on the Best Actor statue right now-it's one of the most devastating performances I've seen in years.

 

We saw it in a local privately held theater that prides itself on top shelf audio/video and I agree. I heard someone whisper behind me at one point "LOOK at those colors" See it in a theater if you have any interest at all.
Jackie Kennedy stands in Emma's way. I haven't seen the film, but by all accounts, she carries the film with a very convincing portrayal and Jackie's mystique still looms large in our psyche (though it weakens every day as that gen passes).
It might be Natalie's "time".
Yes, I think Denzel is a shoo in, esp with the stupidity of last year.
But I just can't help but think that a more serious film will get best picture.

 

I agree Natalie Portman's portrayal of Jackie Kennedy is award worthy, but she already had her "time" with Black Swan. I have not seen Isabelle Huppert's movie (for which she won the Golden Globe), so I can't comment on that. BTW "Jackie" is a tough watch (emotionally) and actually quite graphic but if you know that going in, it's worth a look.

 

I went to see this with my daughter yesterday evening, expecting - from what little I knew and had heard - not to enjoy it. Just goes to show how wrong preconceptions can be - I felt that this is one of the best films I've seen in years. I caught some of the references to great films of the past but guess I may have missed many more

I found the ending entirely satisfactory and a very special moment.

Many contributors upthread have already articulated the merits of the film better than I can, suffice to say I left the cinema feeling exhilarated and that I had just seen something very special indeed and - for the first time in many a year - wanting to see it a second time.

Best Wishes,
David

 

I'm waaaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyy in the minority on this one. But I tried.

 

Education in general. Twisted is right.

 

That was one of my least favorite parts of the movie, as it made me feel the same as I do when I watch those "BOURNE" movies!

 

Based on the "official clip" I saw here, I'd say Bill Maher was right: Gosling can't sing.

 

Speaking of the ending...

Spoiler

Did anyone notice that Mia married famous jazz drummer and educator Guy Patterson, from That Thing You Do?

 

I saw it over the weekend and I was underwhelmed. After the great opening sequence I had very high hopes but it dipped off from there. Stone and Gosling, IMHO, gave luke warm/tepid performances. Emma has a great voice and did well enough, but Gosling not so much. The dancing felt like it never took off more than just fancy footwork. I have no doubt they worked hard on those routines but I wonder how much better those scenes would have been had they gotten two other stars who actually come from that kind of background and could give us much more than what Stone and Gosling gave us?

There were many great shots with great colors splashing through the screen but the "Paul Thomas Anderson" cinematography style I felt clashed with the light musical mood. I get it, the movie itself is exactly what John Legend's character says in the movie about jazz: you have to move it forward and not just repeat what the masters did. That said, I hope a mini musical revival is born and this is one of many musicals to come in the future. This is a great first step but I think there is a better musical waiting to be made....

 

@MRamble, I pretty much agree. The movie lost my girlfriend and I (both movie musical fans) the minute the first girl started to sing in the traffic jam at the beginning. That whole sequence seemed technically well-choreographed but hollow, which I think is a fair criticism of a number of the musical sequences in the film. Gosling's singing voice sounded uncannily like Michael Bublé to me, down to certain idiosyncrasies of pronunciation, which I found distracting, but that's no real criticism, just an observation. The dancing felt half-hearted, just a lot of cute soft-shoe, but the leads are perfectly charming, I laughed a few times, and it's well photographed. I probably enjoyed the non-singing, non-dancing bits most of all. But here's the kicker -- I can't remember a single tune, aside from Stone's final number, and that's because it cribs a bit of melody from "Rainbow Connection."

It's not a terrible movie by any means, and I will always get behind anyone who is trying to do a proper musical, but while the movie's heart is in the right place, it needed better music.

 

Finally saw "La La Land" after listening to the soundtrack for months. In a word, I was disappointed with the film.

As a musical, this simply did not come close to the classics of the golden-age that I love so much & to which this begs comparison, other than to be a cheap copy in rather disjointed ways. The soundtrack is amazing, yet the choreography & dancing was so weak that I had to think that Mandy Moore dumbed-down the steps so the leads didn't look bad in comparison to pro chorus. Also, the camera cuts simply did not match the musical score at all, and the pacing suffered for it. Lost opportunities all around, imo

Without belaboring more on all that, I did feel the movie start to come into its own about halfway though, when it became more of a drama about the couple & less of a musical. Emma Stone is a fantastic actress, and a real gem amongst the current Hollywood younger set. She is a true chameleon, and can emote like nobody's business. I bought into her insecurities & how they fed into the transition of their relationship. The audition scene where she sings about her aunt is amazing, and sad, and beautiful (there is no dancing here).

In the end, I felt this had more in common with something like "A Star Is Born" than "Singing in the Rain".

I hope this is not the last of the musical genre from Hollywood, and I can only hope future endeavors improve on the dance aspects.

 

Too bad that this movie wasn't the big winner last night.

 

Why ?
I've seen both pictures, La La Land and Moonlight, and even if it's not perfect, Moonlight is for me a far better movie - and Manchester By The Sea was even better. I'd compare La La Land to a McDonald menu, full of fat, too rich, but you feel hungry an hour after eating it.

 

I disagree, I'd compare it to a Cheesecake Factory menu.

 

Manchester is a heart ripper. Deserved its due.

 

A friend of mine posted on her Facebook yesterday: "La La Land is a good musical. If you've never seen a musical." When I told her what I thought, that the songs weren't very good and the dancing was mostly half-hearted soft shoe, she added "and a white guy saves jazz." I haven't seen Moonlight yet, but I'm glad this film didn't win Best Picture.

 

Yeah, I kinda agree with your friend's assessment. "LLL" wants badly to be a classic musical, but it just comes across like a 2nd-rate copy.

It's akin to playing a recording by a Beatles tribute band - why would I listen to that when I could play the real thing?

 

Yes, I picked up on that! I felt very smug that I made that connection, thank you!