La La Land (2016)

[VCRTracking]

Quote

Mia (Emma Stone), an aspiring actress, and Sebastian (Ryan Gosling), a dedicated jazz musician, are struggling to make ends meet in a city known for crushing hopes and breaking hearts.

Release date: December 2, 2016 (USA)

Director: Damien Chazelle

The film premiered at the 2016 Venice Film Festival on August 31st. Emma Stone was awarded Best Actress.

The reviews have been fantastic so far.

 

Trailer 1:

Trailer 2:

Ryan and Emma at the premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival:

[thuganomics85]

Considering that Damien Chazelle's Whiplash was my favorite film of 2014, I'm really looking forward to this.  And whatever issues I had with Crazy, Stupid, Love (mainly about how Steve Carell was suppose to be a bad guy for sleeping with numerous women after Julianne Moore cheated on him), I thought Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone had amazing chemistry in their scenes, and I'm looking forward to seeing them do it again, in a hopefully better film.

He's not in any of the advertisement, but J.K. Simmons is suppose to be in this film as well, which is just an added bonus.

[SeanC]

Chazelle talked about Jacques Demy as an influence before making this, and it's cropped up in a lot of reviews as well. One aspect of that that I'm looking forward to, and which is very obvious from the trailers, is the use of colour. Modern-set movies rarely do anything really distinctive with colour design; it seems like most only think you can do that in period pieces, e.g., Brooklyn.

[Amello]

I'm very excited for the movie and everything, but I'm even more eagerly anticipating the soundtrack. It is going to leaving me gagging for days.

[VCRTracking]

Jennifer Lawrence and Lionsgate hosted the special screening of La La Land in New York last night:

[Spartan Girl]

A couple people sitting next to me when we saw the trailer didn't like it because "they didn't know what the movie was about."  Personally, I thought it was brilliant.

And after hearing Emma sing, is it too late for Disney to scrap that dumb Cruella De Ville movie they're trying to get her for and cast her as Ariel in the live-action Little Mermaid instead?

[Notwisconsin]

The film sagged a bit in the middle, but damn! The music worked and both Stone and Gosling can dance! This is an Astaire/Rogers picture done a century later. Nice work.

IT's really nice to see an update of a classic artform done almost perfectly decades after they forgot how to do them.

Edited December 12, 2016 by Notwisconsin

[arc]

I think the ending has wrecked me.

[arc]

So. I liked it a lot. The first two (? are they two? the soundtrack has them as two songs, but they repeat one motif) songs are super duper catchy. I love the themes of the movie, the execution, the choreography and direction and I love its vision of LA.

But I think Richard Brody's review is still right in a lot of ways. <shrug> There are worse things to be than someone like Chazelle who's at least mastered some craft, I guess.

[PepSinger]

I LOVED this movie. Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling are an exquisite pairing. The acting, direction, cinematography, costumes, songs, score...it all just worked for me. I also thought the third act, with the Mia and her husband watching Sebastian play and Mia and Sebastian imagine another life together and the way they look each other in the eye, I teared up. That's when I thought this movie LANDED. Their eyes both just said "thank you for loving me and inspiring me to follow my dreams. I'm happy now, and I'm glad you are, too." They didn't *need* an ending scene. Yes, I do admit I am a little biased because I feel a lot like Mia right now -- struggling actor, working a job to make ends meet, while almost forgetting my dream. I also love that this movie wasn't cynical; it's a breath of fresh air and showed the importance of having a dream. 

On a diversity note, I thought they did a pretty good job of including people of color in this movie when they could. I was afraid this movie was going to be a sea of whiteness, and it wasn't.

[absnow54]

I really loved the music. I wanted to do elaborate choreography out the theater. 

Honestly, I think Whiplash is still Damien Chazelle's best movie. Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone have magical chemistry that Hollywood should capitalize on for as long as their able, the musical numbers were a lot of fun, and this film was shot beautifully, but I do agree with the critics that the story and characters felt kind of shallow. That's why although I think Emma Stone gave a wonderful performance, her character just didn't have the substance that will win her a lot of awards this season.

The epilogue sequence was truly stunning, it really brought into focus that these characters weren't living in a musical by showing us the Hollywood ending we were expecting. It was a bittersweet moment that was played so nicely between Stone and Gosling (seriously, can we put them under contract that they have to do at least one movie every 5 years. They just sparkle together.) And I couldn't even hate her husband because she ended up with Shades!

[Paradigm14]

I hated it. Yes another girl names Mia, really? Gimme a break. And I thought their dancing wasn't graceful enough. It just sagged for me in many ways. I've enjoyed both leads in other things, but neither of them are anything near old Hollywood to me. Just Meh. I left after about an hour and found myself wanting to leave in less than 10 minutes.

[JustaPerson]

I loved it. It felt like a modern technicolor Hollywood musical, much in the way The Artist was a modern silent picture. The colors were so saturated and bright! I'm shipper trash so I was sad that Mia and Sebastian didn't end up together in the end but they both achieved their dreams and real happiness. I do feel like maybe the singing could have been a bit better, but Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone were fairly competent. "City of Stars" was so gorgeous, I hope it wins the Oscar. I have heard the song from Moana yet, but City of Stars felt so haunting and beautiful and bittersweet. The epilogue was very much like those metaphorical dance sequences in the old musicals. It reminded me of the "Broadway Melody" dance sequence in Singing in the Rain. I remember seeing comments like "Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling doing a movie together again?? Wtf??" but I think the movie wouldn't have worked without their chemistry. Here's hoping Ryan Gosling doesn't miss out on an Oscar nom while the female lead snags one the way it happened with Michelle Williams for Blue Valentine. He and Emma were both wonderful and it wouldn't have worked if they weren't both giving it their all.

I also loved how diverse the world seemed to be. From Sebastian's sister's fiancé to the singers in the opening sequence. Even Mia's roommates. 

ETA: I loved the "love letter to [insert city here]" vibe the film had for LA. There are so many "love letter to NYC" films out there, it'a about time LA's gotten some love too! 

Edited December 24, 2016 by JustaPerson

[PepSinger]

What's wrong with the name Mia?

[Paradigm14]

The name has been in so many movies lately, I feel like I can tell you the name of a character by seeing a picture, just a trend, I guess to use that name. In the 1930s-50s time period, her name would have been something like Meryl, Marcy or Mildred or perhaps Margaret. And these poor people need some freaking food, they looked so drawn and tired in their faces.  I didn't see any chemistry. It seemed mechanical to me. None of the grace of old movies in the dances or the musical sequences. They seemed to be either too realistic when they were trying to be dreamy or not realistic enough.

Edited December 31, 2016 by Paradigm14

[choclatechip45]

I really liked it even though the ending bummed me out.

[cpcathy]

Saw this Christmas Eve and thought it was...okay. I really wanted to be bowled over, though, and I wasn't. Neither my husband or I could figure out what was missing, we kept discussing it afterward, so as others have said, I guess it could be called "shallow."  I also noticed something not right about the audio on the songs. It's as if I could barely hear the people singing, especially in the group numbers. John Legend was the only one with good audio. Why put the songs in if you're going to dial them down, soundwise?

On the other hand, Gosling is great, I love him anyway, but he was just entertaining here. He and Emma really need to do most of their movies together, but really, Emma needs to feel that she can eat something.

[caracas1914]

I loved the movie and I agree with what I read somewhere that more than old time HW musicals, it harkens closer  to the spirit of the French director Michel Legrand with his 60's musicals  "The Umbrellas of Cherboug" and "The Young Girls of Rochefort";  even the ending is bittersweet romantic sad evoking "Umbrellas".

Granted it's gone out of style but I do wonder if stronger lip syched singing voices would have worked (as they did in Umbrellas) since the film is already beyond stylized.  The leads' voices are competent enough, but there are times, especially Gosling, where the strain of trying to sing "naturally" is evident.

While neither Emma Stone or Ryan Gosling are trained dancers, I was impressed how well they danced together, and basically the movie lives or dies on their chemistry, so thank God for the casting.  Both 

Gosling does  moonstruck in love like few male actors can these days, though and that it something the film needed badly.  As far as Emma Stone, her etherealness and charisma almost works against her, as in it's hard to believe her character is overlooked in all those audition catcalls. 

Where I agree with the The New Yorker review was that the movie didn't seem at all interested in the creative process itself much, it seems Mia (the Emma Stone character) performs everything on her own, so in that sense the whimsical love story in inflated above love of the arts, which I think could have lifted the movie higher.  I know, arm chair directing and scriptwrighting.   LOL.

There are other parts of it I can of course (nit pick) , such as if Sebastian indeed gave up the lucrative gig in the Jazz band,  why couldn't he spend more time with Mia in Paris, but the closing sequence was indeed lyrically touching.

I wouldn't necessarily vote for it as the best picture of the year but I do think it's going to age well, like, well the Legrand movies..

 

[phalange]

I saw this movie today, and I'm sure it will have no trouble at the box office, because our theater was packed to the point that we had to sit in the third row. I normally hate sitting so close, but it actually kind of worked for this movie. Made it more immersive, somehow. Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling had good chemistry and really nailed their dance sequences. The scene in the observatory where it looks like they're dancing through the stars was gorgeous.

I teared up at the end when it showed they didn't stay together, especially when they imagined the life they could've had. I think I took for granted that they would figure things out because it seemed like a romantic comedy within a musical (or a musical within a romantic comedy), and romantic comedies always have happy endings. The actual ending was more realistic of course, but it's been a rough year; I want my sappy Hollywood ending! That being said, I really liked it and it deserves the awards it will probably win. My entire theater applauded at the end, so it was definitely a hit. 

[Spartan Girl]

I knew they wouldn't end up together and the ending still destroyed me.

Emma and Ryan were great singers. Seriously, I hope someone at Disney is watching so that they can scrap that dumb Cruella movie they want to stick Emma in and get her to be the new Ariel instead!

[quangtran]

16 hours ago, cpcathy said:

Saw this Christmas Eve and thought it was...okay. I really wanted to be bowled over, though, and I wasn't. Neither my husband or I could figure out what was missing, we kept discussing it afterward, so as others have said, I guess it could be called "shallow."  I also noticed something not right about the audio on the songs. It's as if I could barely hear the people singing, especially in the group numbers. John Legend was the only one with good audio. Why put the songs in if you're going to dial them down, soundwise?

On the other hand, Gosling is great, I love him anyway, but he was just entertaining here. He and Emma really need to do most of their movies together, but really, Emma needs to feel that she can eat something.

I notice that the singing sounded weak during the ensemble numbers as well, but then realised that this is probable intentional. All the dancers and extras in "Another Day of Sun" and "Someone In The Crowd" were likely novice singers just like Emma and Ryan, and John Legend was the only person to give A-grade vocals because he was the only one who played a professional singer.

[Sake614]

I saw it yesterday and also thought it was just okay. Obviously a UO but I didn't find stone and gosling very charismatic. And I grew restless pretty quickly but stuck it out until the end. Which was by far the best part of the movie. Best picture? Best actress? Not IMO certainly. 

[cpcathy]

No, not Best Picture or actress, I can only hope Gosling gets nominated. He's great in everything.

[PepSinger]

How is Emma a novice singer? Wasn't she in Cabaret back in 2014?

Quote

Emma needs to feel that she can eat something

Just curious, would you make the same kind of statement, albeit reversed, if you thought Emma were overweight?

Edited December 28, 2016 by PepSinger

[cpcathy]

Frankly, I would not. I just hate that Hollywood actresses feel they need to be superskinny and not like "regular" people, I don't care if you're overweight in Hollywood, I would welcome it because more people would be represented and fewer young girls would feel they have to starve themselves and emotionally suffer because they don't look like the women in movies or TV or the modeling world.

[PepSinger]

2 hours ago, cpcathy said:

Frankly, I would not. I just hate that Hollywood actresses feel they need to be superskinny and not like "regular" people, I don't care if you're overweight in Hollywood, I would welcome it because more people would be represented and fewer young girls would feel they have to starve themselves and emotionally suffer because they don't look like the women in movies or TV or the modeling world.

This is my point. If someone isn't going to tell someone to lose weight, then you can't tell someone to gain weight, either. I don't know where we a society have gotten this idea that it's okay to tell a skinny person that they are too skinny without a shred of medical evidence, but if the same were to be said to an overweight person, people would say it's uncalled for. It's hypocritical, and that's the point I'm getting at here.

[Browncoat]

I saw this this afternoon, and really enjoyed it.  Stone and Gosling worked extremely well together, IMO, but I thought her voice was a little thin at times.  Passable, but not the strongest of the lot.  Gosling held his own fairly well.  I ADORE "City Of Stars" -- I'm still humming it. 

But the end killed me.  Heartbreaking, but at the same time, happy that they each followed and realized their dreams.

[aradia22]

I'm not sure about the etiquette here. Can I post spoilers?

[arc]

I think this movie is in wide enough release as of Christmas that spoiler tags aren't necessary.

[Skyline]

I had more of an emotional reaction to this than Manchester By the Sea and Moonlight. 

[Sweet Tee]

I have to agree with those who thought it was kind of shallow.  I love musicals and I love Emma Stone.  I wanted to love this movie but I didn't.  It was just okay.  None of the numbers blew me away.  Maybe my expectations were wrong.  This keeps being promoted as a throwback to old Hollywood musicals but it didn't feel like one at all, save for the last number and the one where they're looking for her car.  I didn't think their singing was great either.  Ryan Gosling in particular seemed to have trouble reaching those low notes.  I did like Mia's Audition/Fools who Dream song.  That one got to me.  But it's the only thing in the movie that did.  So, the ending didn't bum me out because I had no investment in their relationship.  I never really bought their connection or true love or whatever they were going for.  As others have pointed out, most of their high points were via montages with no dialogue.  The most compelling scene they had was their dinner argument near the end.  This will probably win best picture but I'd rather see it go to Moonlight.  Then again, maybe I just don't like Damien Chazelle because I didn't get the big deal over Whiplash either.

Edited December 30, 2016 by Sweet Tee

[Paradigm14]

On 12/28/2016 at 3:01 PM, PepSinger said:

This is my point. If someone isn't going to tell someone to lose weight, then you can't tell someone to gain weight, either. I don't know where we a society have gotten this idea that it's okay to tell a skinny person that they are too skinny without a shred of medical evidence, but if the same were to be said to an overweight person, people would say it's uncalled for. It's hypocritical, and that's the point I'm getting at here.

There is a huge tradition in the modeling industry, that eventually invaded the acting industry that doesn't allow women to eat very much. There's a difference betwen a little off and looking ill. She looked, ill, drawn in her face and her breastbone really stuck out. No, there's a point where if we an actual problem, we should point it out so the casting directors know we see it,

[tennisgurl]

I was really excited to see this one, as I adore Emma Stone, Ryan Gosling, and old school musicals, and I loved a whole lot of it. I loved how it was filmed, all the references to old school Hollywood and jazz performers, and I thought Emma and Ryan were delightful together. Unfortunately, that leads me to my big issue with the movie...I thought the ending was needlessly sad, and a bit emotionally manipulative. 

I dont mind a bittersweet or even sad ending, if it makes sense for the movie. I thought the ending of *Rogue One Spoilers*

Spoiler

Rogue One, which was much sadder than this, was a perfect ending, and made sense for the themes of the movie. 

I wouldn't have even minded if the main characters didn't end up together, or ended on a "will they get together or not" ending, but the whole imaginary ending where Emma Stone imagines their possible life together just seemed like it was trying to wring tears out of the audience. And, yeah, I get they were saying that the main characters were really in love with their art, and it was happy because they lived their dreams, and yeah I do like that they did what they wanted, and they seem happy, but I have no idea why they didn't just have them end together! We saw in the fantasy world that they were successful there too, so why not just give us the happy ending? If they wanted to do a send up to old school romantic musicals, they would have them kiss and than walk into the sunset!  

Maybe this will make more sense when I think about it more. Maybe I will get more into the "their true love was their art" thing floating around the internet, or that this ending was "realistic" thing eventually. I did love the audition song Emma sang. That got me in the feels. 

[arc]

7 hours ago, tennisgurl said:

We saw in the fantasy world that they were successful there too, so why not just give us the happy ending? If they wanted to do a send up to old school romantic musicals, they would have them kiss and than walk into the sunset!  

The ending was an homage to a famous musical, one that's deeply inspired Chazelle. The protagonists of his first movie were named after characters from it, this film referenced it, and apparently (it's been a long time since I saw it) it also ended along similar bittersweet lines. Spoilers for an old movie, including the name:

Spoiler

The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, where the two lovers are revealed to have separate lives five years later. I don't think there's a musical montage dream sequence of an alternate life, though.

[Silver Raven]

On 12/27/2016 at 4:04 PM, caracas1914 said:

The leads' voices are competent enough, but there are times, especially Gosling, where the strain of trying to sing "naturally" is evident.

Gosling is a singer and musician as well as an actor, you don't get picked to be a Mouseketeer at the age of 12 if you can't sing.

I was underwhelmed.  It was ... okay.  The music and the dance were entertaining, but John Legend overwhelmed them, maybe they should have found an actor for the role rather than a music superstar.  The story was just fluff.  I don't understand the Best Picture talk.

[Bruinsfan]

Sweet Tee, your take on the movie was very similar to mine. I liked the walking-to-the-cars number (particularly the dancing), and loved just about all the Jazz instrumentals (barring the ones involving synthesizers), but overall I wasn't too impressed by the music and the story lacked profundity. Really, the charm of the two main actors was the biggest thing the film had going for it. I'd much rather Gosling get a nomination for The Nice Guys than for this, I think it was the superior performance and happened in a much better movie.

[Silver Raven]

1 hour ago, Bruinsfan said:

I'd much rather Gosling get a nomination for The Nice Guys

Blue Valentine is my favorite Gosling film.  Michele Williams got nominated, how could he not have gotten a nom?  That film is superb.

[Silver Raven]

I just saw a review that said that the story line is exactly the same as The Last Five Years, including both being musicals.

I hope this movie doesn't encourage idiots to break into the Griffith Park observatory in the middle of the night.

[Wouldofshouldof]

I'm in the it-was-OK-but-I-wasn't-blown-away camp.  I wanted to be enchanted by it, like I was with Moulin Rouge.  None of La La Land's songs stuck with me, but I still listen to the Moulin Rouge songs on my iPod.

[Browncoat]

I saw it almost a week ago and am still humming "City of Stars."

[GreekGeek]

I saw the movie today and enjoyed it, but I couldn't sing or hum any of the songs to save my life. The story wasn't especially original, but I found it refreshing that Mia and Sebastian didn't end up together. I loved all the forms of entertainment that got gently spoofed, some in greater detail than others: the cop/firefighter/romance/inspirational teacher shows that Mia auditioned for, the overproduced pop music act that Sebastian performed in, the one-woman show Mia penned (I really wanted to see some of it). And musicals, of course.

[Silver Raven]

So I read that Chazelle based the ending on The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, and I noticed that Stone's character in the one woman show was Genevieve, the name of the female lead in Umbrellas.

[arc]

19 hours ago, Silver Raven said:

I just saw a review that said that the story line is exactly the same as The Last Five Years, including both being musicals.

I hope this movie doesn't encourage idiots to break into the Griffith Park observatory in the middle of the night.

I still haven't been able to watch about the last half of TL5Y, because the main guy character was so insufferable. I guess Seb is more than a little precious too, but it's not in the same scale.

[kiddo82]

8 hours ago, GreekGeek said:

I saw the movie today and enjoyed it, but I couldn't sing or hum any of the songs to save my life. The story wasn't especially original, but I found it refreshing that Mia and Sebastian didn't end up together. 

Yes and yes.  It was a musical but, to me, the least interesting part was the music.  I did like the scene with Mia singing at her audition as well as the ending fantasy sequence but other than that, I couldn't even name another song in the film let alone hum one.  I did like the ending though and in a weird way I thought it was a happy one.  They both got exactly what they wanted and while they may always long for the fantasy of having achieved their dreams plus having each other, I found their final looks as ones of closure with a tinge of regret as opposed to pure regret.  While they were both obviously emotional in the moment, I think they were both happy for each other and they still knew that not staying together was for the best.  They were both in a good place.

Edited January 3, 2017 by kiddo82

[ruby24]

I was underwhelmed by this. Feels like this year's The Artist to me- a tribute movie that isn't as good as the movies it pays tribute to. It looks nice and the cinematography is gorgeous.

But there's just something missing from it. First of all, neither Gosling nor Stone can sing or dance, so the really spectacular, impressive numbers from the truly skilled dancers/singers/performers in all those old movies isn't here. Sometimes I think people like this director have missed the point of what made those old movies memorable. Yes, it was in the look and colors and all that, but the actual TALENT involved is what made it. They were capturing the professional talent of entertainers like Astaire, Kelly, Cyd Charisse, etc. in their prime. You can't just recreate the surface level part without the heart of it.

The music isn't that good either. Eh.

Edited January 3, 2017 by ruby24

[Bruinsfan]

Yeah. Maybe I've been spoiled by hearing Alan Menken's work on Galavant for a couple of years from the mouths of people who are (mostly) really good at singing, but whereas I'll still hum those songs after first hearing them 2 years ago, I can't remember the tune of a single one from the movie that I saw Saturday. For that matter, I have a better recollection of songs from Crazy Ex Girlfriend back at the start of December.

[A Boston Gal]

Thank you, thank you, thank you, because now I know I'm not alone.  My sister and I saw this just before Christmas, as we are both huge  musical fans. We so wanted to love this, but....eh. In fact, less than "eh". While it started out promising with the dancing drivers amid the traffic, I also noticed the problem with the audio - trying for a more "natural" sound, perhaps?  - and the resulting  lack of "oomph" was a true distraction. I'm sorry, Emma and Ryan boosters, but these two folks, while talented, are not singers or dancers. As the movie dragged on (and on!) with its forgettable music and endless Emma close ups, Sis and I became more and more unenthralled.  Aside from the final fantasy sequence, we left the film disappointed.

Glad for those of you who enjoyed it, but unfortunately, I am not on that list.

[arc]

I saw it a second time and the biggest quibble I had was that in Boulder, there are some palm trees in the distance.

[Silver Raven]

15 minutes ago, arc said:

I saw it a second time and the biggest quibble I had was that in Boulder, there are some palm trees in the distance.

It's Boulder City, Nevada, not Boulder, Colorado.

 

I just went to look at street scenes of Boulder City on Google maps, and there are palm trees.

Edited January 3, 2017 by Silver Raven

[arc]

ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. D'oh!!!

That makes more sense, I do remember seeing some mentions of Nevada too. OK, quibble retracted!

Edited January 3, 2017 by arc