{"id":23692,"date":"2016-12-30T08:43:02","date_gmt":"2016-12-30T13:43:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/?p=23692"},"modified":"2016-12-30T08:43:02","modified_gmt":"2016-12-30T13:43:02","slug":"la-la-land-2016-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/2016\/12\/30\/la-la-land-2016-2\/","title":{"rendered":"La La Land (2016)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>I don\u2019t know if I\u2019d ever call \u201cLa La Land\u201d a masterpiece. I wouldn\u2019t even call it a great movie. But it at least gets an A for effort, anxiously trying to evoke the classic musicals of Hollywood\u2019s yesteryear that has a lot of first year theater students salivating over. \u201cLa La Land\u201d is a neat and charming little novelty, and one I was thoroughly invested in, mainly for the fantastic photography. \u201cLa La Land\u201d looks gorgeous, especially when characters Mia and Sebastian are sitting on a park bench at dawn, dancing and singing. But that\u2019s about the entirety of the film\u2019s merits. The cinematography and special effects are fantastic, but don\u2019t actually compensate for a weak storyline, and forgettable musical numbers.<\/p>\n

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\u201cLa La Land\u201d depicts Los Angeles as a town filled with opportunity, and drenched in missed opportunity. Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling are daring choices for what is something of an experiment in a classic musical, it\u2019s just a shame that \u201cLa La Land\u201d never rises above just being a fine movie. It\u2019s a movie that\u2019s merely going through the motions and makes a clear effort to evoke some sense of emotion through its nuanced direction and simple dance numbers. Stone, with her usual large saucer blue eyes plays Mia, an aspiring actress and barista in Los Angeles, who is struggling to make it in the business. After endless embarrassing auditions, she crosses paths with a club pianist named Sebastian who is also under appreciated and unnoticed.<\/p>\n

Conveniently, they manage to cross paths and form a bond with one another that also elevates in to a romance, where Sebastian\u2019s pursuit of music, and Mia\u2019s pursuit of acting elevates their turmoil as lovers and kindred spirits. Stone and Gosling are usually brilliant actors, but the characters they play aren\u2019t just one dimensional but awfully clich\u00e9. It\u2019s like director Damien Chazelle chose two goofy LA archetypes and tried to make their tales rich and complex, when they feel more like old hat tropes doled out to appeal to a modern audience. Had \u201cLa La Land\u201d spent more time exploring the struggles and poetic concept of living life as a struggling artist begging to be taken seriously, \u201cLa La Land\u201d might just have been stellar. Instead it\u2019s more of \u201cOur generation is so misunderstood? Am I right, kids?\u201d with two tired back stories.<\/p>\n

Stone and Gosling\u2019s singing and performing are adequate, while director Chazelle seems hell bent on mimicking a lot of the classic musical devices, including the dramatic camera movements. That said, Gosling is a charming leading man who can at least commit to looking like someone struggling to be noticed as a pianist, all the while folks like JK Simmons, and John Legend make brief appearances that don\u2019t affect the overall movie for better or for worse. I\u2019m all for escapism, and light hearted movie musicals, and great tributes to the classic musicals of golden age Hollywood, it\u2019s just \u201cLa La Land\u201d never rises above feeling like an imitation, when\u2014if we make the effort\u2014better musicals are always right there at our fingertips.<\/p>\n