La La Land Review

La La Land Review

On Monday the 30^th, as a group, we went to see the film ‘La La Land’. ‘La La Land’ is a musical, comedy drama set in Los Angeles. It follows struggling jazz musician Sebastian, played by Ryan Gosling, who wants to open his own jazz club and aspiring actress Mia, played by Emma Stone, who wants to hit the big time, and their chance meetings throughout their lives. They eventually become lovers and set off to try and get the best out of each other, while also trying to make something of themselves. Directed by Damien Chazelle, who is known for doing Whiplash, an award winning drama, it is an astoundingly well received musical, having been nominated for 14 academy awards, tying for the most with ‘Titanic’ and ‘All About Eve’. It has also won 7 Golden Globes, breaking the previous record for the most wins, by winning in every nominated category. After watching the film I believe that, while it definitely deserved to win some awards, what with it being a great film and all, I don’t think it deserves anywhere near as many nominations as it has. The main reason is that it’s just a musical, it hasn’t changed the way the world sees film forever, like ‘Citizen Kane’, or used ground breaking new technology to change modern film, like ‘Avatar’ did, it just had some cool cinematography and a few good tunes, that’s it. I think people are freaking out over this film primarily because musicals haven’t been done in forever, and this film certainly does them justice. It shows how much of a shambles the awards scene actually is, in that all it takes is to please the majority of the academy and you’re guaranteed to win some awards. This doesn’t detract from how I felt about the film itself, however, as the film is still fantastic, so good that I took my girlfriend to see it the next weekend, and she loved it too. All in all, I think the film was great, but not 14 Oscars great.

The main reason I fell the film was great was that it’s a film you can’t be unhappy while watching. The music and the colours all blend together so well it makes you smile constantly throughout. The colours are so bright and vibrant in the nice, happy scenes, but then it gets darker during the sadder scenes. I think that colour plays just as much an important role in this film as the music does. The music, by Justin Hurwitz, who also worked on ‘Whiplash’, plays a massive part in the film, obviously. It plays on the idea that individual music genres are dying and must be revitalized through the youth of today to stay relevant. Jazz music is the main focus in this film, with Sebastian being a jazz musician, and it talks about how it is old hat to be into jazz, and that it is a dying breed of music. The costumes are great as well, during the scene where Mia is deciding whether to go to a party, her housemates are all wearing different colour dresses, and when she puts on her dark blue dress, it completes the contrast between all the dresses, blue, red, green and yellow. Put that against the dark blue/black of the road they are walking down, and it makes for an amazing looking scene. Also Ryan Gosling was slaying it in those suits too. The cinematography is also fantastic, with long sweeping shots during the larger scenes. This makes for a great watch, keeping you engrossed even during the longer scenes, as the camera doesn’t cut away from the action very often.