Approx. Runtime: 128 minutes (2 hours, 8 minutes)
Language Watched: English
Type of Movie: Comedy, Musical, Romance, Drama
Overall Impression: It's great! It's magical! Even if you may not like musicals, go check it out.
SPOILER ALERT WARNING!!
This review will contain some spoilers -- or rather, there will be a "Spoilers" section at the end of the review to go into further detail about certain things. There may still be slight spoilers throughout the review, but I've tried my best to keep them at a minimum.
PERSONAL STANDING (Pre-exposures, thoughts, etc.)
My first exposure to La La Land was months ago when I was in theatres for Doctor Strange. During the theatre pre-show, a promotional clip for La La Land played. When I saw Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling singing and dancing, I knew right away that I had to see it. I enjoyed Emma Stone's singing in Easy A and I was curious about Ryan Gosling's singing voice. Sometimes the smallest curiosities are enough to get me to check something out.
STORY
La La Land is about Mia, a barista aspiring to be an actress, and Sebastian, a pianist aspiring to own a jazz club. They meet and fall in love and we get to see them as they struggle towards their dreams.
The story is very simple, but it is told very charmingly. It has a good balance of scenes that make you feel bright and carefree and scenes that will lightly pull you back to reality.
Overall, I enjoyed the story, but I did have a couple qualms, which I'll mention in the "Spoilers" section.
I will also briefly mention the movie's theme in the "Spoilers" section.
The story is very simple, but it is told very charmingly. It has a good balance of scenes that make you feel bright and carefree and scenes that will lightly pull you back to reality.
Overall, I enjoyed the story, but I did have a couple qualms, which I'll mention in the "Spoilers" section.
I will also briefly mention the movie's theme in the "Spoilers" section.
ACTING/CHARACTERS
The acting was wonderful. Both Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling were great in their roles. I could really feel every bit of emotion that their characters felt, so good job! :)
MUSIC
Here's the section I really wanted to talk about (without treading upon spoilers). This. This. The music in La La Land was great. After watching the movie, I bought the soundtrack that same night; that's how much I enjoyed the music. There were a mix of upbeat dance tunes, slow piano ballads (sooo soothing and lovely, ahhhh...), and jazz -- lots of jazz. I'm often very indifferent with jazz -- but I like the jazz in this movie!
I would share some tunes here, but I think they are best experienced when they show up in the movie -- so watch the movie! Hahaha :)
While I enjoyed all the tracks in La La Land, my personal favourites are: Another Day in the Sun, Mia & Sebastian's Theme, A Lovely Night, City of Stars (Duet version), and Audition (The Fools Who Dream). I will comment briefly about these tracks in the "Spoilers" section.
I would share some tunes here, but I think they are best experienced when they show up in the movie -- so watch the movie! Hahaha :)
While I enjoyed all the tracks in La La Land, my personal favourites are: Another Day in the Sun, Mia & Sebastian's Theme, A Lovely Night, City of Stars (Duet version), and Audition (The Fools Who Dream). I will comment briefly about these tracks in the "Spoilers" section.
CLOSING THOUGHTS
If you haven't yet watched La La Land -- go and watch it! :) It's got heart; it's got magic; it's got passion; and it's got charm. It's been almost a week since I've seen La La Land and I still think about the movie and its characters quite often. It'll definitely be a movie that will stay with me for years to come.
Thanks for reading! If you want some more input about something I didn't cover (I intentionally wrote very little about it -- it should be experienced! Not read about, lol), feel free to ask. :)
Now I'll do the scrolly thing so you don't see the "Spoilers" section right away. Then I'll add some more scrolly things after the "Spoilers" section in case anybody wants to comment, but not see the spoilers.
Thanks for reading! If you want some more input about something I didn't cover (I intentionally wrote very little about it -- it should be experienced! Not read about, lol), feel free to ask. :)
Now I'll do the scrolly thing so you don't see the "Spoilers" section right away. Then I'll add some more scrolly things after the "Spoilers" section in case anybody wants to comment, but not see the spoilers.
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SPOILERS
"Overall, I enjoyed the story, but I did have a couple qualms."
The ending: I will tell you this: immediately after I finished watching La La Land, I thought: I can't ever watch this again. This ending is too sad, with Mia married to somebody else and Sebastian still loving with Mia [I come to this latter conclusion since Sebastian took Mia's advice and opened his jazz club at a different location and he renamed his club to Mia's suggestion -- Mia's influence is forever a part of Sebastian's dream].
After thinking it over many, many, many times, I can come to understand and respect its merits. It is an ending that is closer to the sad reality that once separated, will likely start a life with somebody else, despite loving each other so much. It is also an ending that sticks so much more prominently because Mia and Sebastian did not end up together.
Though... even though I can respect this ending (despite my original thinking, I do want to watch the movie again), I will never like it. It is just too easy to re-write it so that Mia and Sebastian end up together: Mia just needs to stay single! Hahaha. Then she goes to the club, realizes that it's Sebastian's club, Sebastian will notice her in the crowd -- but instead of playing the really bittersweet, painful Epilogue track, he'll play either City of Stars or a more cheerful version of Mia & Sebastian's Theme and they'll live happily ever after.
The Summer montage: This isn't really a qualm, but -- the scene where it cuts back and forth multiple times to Mia dancing and Sebastian playing the piano -- it is very similar to a scene from the movie Whiplash. Even the musical style is similar. This wouldn't affect those who haven't watched Whiplash, but that scene took me out of the movie just briefly.
After thinking it over many, many, many times, I can come to understand and respect its merits. It is an ending that is closer to the sad reality that once separated, will likely start a life with somebody else, despite loving each other so much. It is also an ending that sticks so much more prominently because Mia and Sebastian did not end up together.
Though... even though I can respect this ending (despite my original thinking, I do want to watch the movie again), I will never like it. It is just too easy to re-write it so that Mia and Sebastian end up together: Mia just needs to stay single! Hahaha. Then she goes to the club, realizes that it's Sebastian's club, Sebastian will notice her in the crowd -- but instead of playing the really bittersweet, painful Epilogue track, he'll play either City of Stars or a more cheerful version of Mia & Sebastian's Theme and they'll live happily ever after.
The Summer montage: This isn't really a qualm, but -- the scene where it cuts back and forth multiple times to Mia dancing and Sebastian playing the piano -- it is very similar to a scene from the movie Whiplash. Even the musical style is similar. This wouldn't affect those who haven't watched Whiplash, but that scene took me out of the movie just briefly.
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"I will also briefly mention the movie's theme."
So La La Land's theme is all about pursuing your dreams. I am a big dreamer, so it really spoke to me. I kinda think that there's just not enough dreamers these days. When I say dreamer, I'm not talking about having a dream and just sitting around and hoping that it will one day come true, but about having a dream where the path is not laid out in finite steps -- a dream that requires stumbling, wasted efforts, some luck, and lots of hard work... and a chance that it may not be realized in the end.
Watching La La Land really makes me think about my own dreams and how I need to work harder on them.
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"I will comment briefly about these tracks plus something else."
Another Day in the Sun: This is a really fun track. Great opening number. Strangely, however... even though this track is really cheerful and upbeat, I can sense some kind of pained longing in it and in other tracks that lift certain parts from this song. I wonder if anybody else hears this?
Mia & Sebastian's Theme: This is just so beautiful and soothing -- at least before it becomes energetic. I love it.
A Lovely Night: This is a really cute track. I love when Sebastian says flatly "It's wool". I can hear his annoyed tone.
City of Stars (Duet version): I love this song so much. There is a soft and warm feel to it. When it played in the movie, I was a little surprised that the scene was pretty much just Mia and Sebastian singing together. Like, nothing's happening in the scene, but you can get so much affection from it, too. Very adorable and sweet.
Audition (The Fools Who Dream): I didn't have to look for a theme song this year -- this is definitely my theme song for 2017. *Raises glass* Here's to the fools who dream~~~
If you read my spoilers, thank for reading! Now to finish with more scrolly things. If you disagree with anything or just want to say something, feel free to comment :D
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