rated PG-13
released 12-09-2016, 128 minutes, Summitt Entertainment
directed: Damien Chazelle
written: Damien Chazelle
starring: Emma Stone, Ryan Gosling, John Legend, Rosemarie DeWitt
La La Land is an unabashed homage to the golden age of movie musicals of the 30's 40's and 50's. From the ziegfeld follies to singing in the rain, this love letter to movies from another time is sweet, and fun. It is eye candy for those who have a place in their heart for musicals. At its heart this is a passionate movie about passion, for the movies, for jazz music, and for each other. The story telling is thoroughly modern, by which i mean that a viewer from the golden age of hollywood musicals would find the dialog and scene cuts uncomfortable and lacking continuity. However, today's audiences are used to music videos, and reality television where the story sequence varies and is subservient to the wow factor and shock value of any given scene. That is not to say that this is a hatchet job, it most certainly is not. It is just a stylized telling of the tale. In the end, the creators manage to evoke emotion from the audience and the actors make a connection well with both the audience and each other, that sells this tale love and loss and passion.
The performers, a term I prefer for this film to actor, are stretched to their limits. Today's actors very often have had dance and voice lessons as well and acting and learned an instruments along the way. These are talented people who have worked incredibly hard to achieve the success they enjoy. Most will readily admit that no small amount of luck was also involved, and that both will continue to play a role in their career moving forward. I both like and admire both Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone, but I did get the sense that much of the vocal work was compromised, and scaled back to match their limits. There were few full voice songs, instead much of their vocal work was very quiet, and on songs requiring limited range. John Legend belted out a great on stage song as one would expect, and his acting chops were also scaled a bit. The songs were well written and fit neatly into the film. They were heartfelt and executed very well. On item of note, is that the director claims there were no stunt doubles for goslings hands. He played every note that you see him playing. Gosling reportedly spent four months of full time every day practice learning the songs. That in itself is an achievement worth seeing. So, bottom line, do I recommend this movie? I do, giving it 3 stars (I don't give half stars, but if i did, this one would get 3 and a half). I liked it very much, and only mark it down because I feel it is a limited audience movie. There are just many many people who will never go to see this movie, and it is too bad. It was made as a love letter to the dreams and dreamers in Hollywood. Have lost so many icons of glamor this year (Debbie Reynolds pass just a day ago). Hollywood deserves some love.