Arts & Entertainment, Features

REVIEW: “La La Land” brings musicals back to the silver screen

Ryan Gosling as Sebastian and Emma Stone as Mia in “La La Land.” PHOTO COURTESY DALE ROBINETTE
Ryan Gosling as Sebastian and Emma Stone as Mia in “La La Land.” PHOTO COURTESY DALE ROBINETTE

Film musicals are a strange genre — when one thinks of a musical in film, it’s either a bombastic, all-out production or one of the classic tap-dancing, minimal-plot films of the ‘40s and ‘50s.

Damien Chazelle’s “La La Land,” which opened in select cities Friday, manages to somehow be both but also neither, creating a fresh spin on an old film genre many would have thought to have disappeared over time.

“La La Land” centers around two characters: Sebastian (Ryan Gosling), a jazz addict who wishes to open his own jazz club one day, and Mia (Emma Stone), an aspiring playwright and actress who dreams of fame while working as a barista in Hollywood. The film gives us a year in the life of these two young dreamers and how their continued run-ins become the start of something great.

If it seems strange that no other high-profile actors were mentioned, it’s because there aren’t any, making the film all about Gosling and Stone. Both are at their absolute peak here, Gosling showing shades of his performance in “The Place Beyond the Pines,” while Stone channels her characters from “Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)”— in short, they’re practically playing themselves, yet these performances are still unique and memorable in their own ways.

Most importantly, like in “Crazy, Stupid, Love.,” Gosling and Stone have incredible on-screen chemistry, which translates well not only in their acting, but also in their dance scenes and duets. Their singing, however, leaves a bit to be desired — sure, Stone and Gosling can sing, but they cannot project, and no amount of movie magic can make their voices pop against the loud, lyrical music.

Yet this barely matters. The film’s general atmosphere is captivating enough to make viewers ignore such nitpicks, perfectly blending aspects of old-school Astaire/Rogers musicals with the pop glitz and glamour of the millennial era to give audiences the best of both worlds. This is especially evident throughout the first half of the film, and especially in its opening scenes — “Another Day of Sun,” the film’s opening number, is maybe the best example of this — yet at times the world of “La La Land” can seem too bright and colorful and perfect.

And that’s when the film’s second act hits: everything becomes darker, in terms of both music and cinematography. Shots become longer and lingering, colors become more diluted. It’s these aesthetic choices and changes that make “La La Land” really stand out.

Of course, the soundtrack is also worthy of praise. While the musical numbers themselves end up sounding a bit too cliché, with most being solos of either Gosling or Stone and barely any great ensemble numbers, the instrumental soundtrack is astounding.

In what could perhaps be seen as a nod to “Whiplash,” the “La La Land” soundtrack is filled to the brim with quality jazz, an element central to the plot itself, which presents itself both in big, energetic band numbers and soulful piano solos, all of which complete the ambitious aesthetic “La La Land” was going for.

In short, “La La Land” can best be described as a series of love letters: one for 1950s musicals, one for jazz music and one for the bright neon aesthetic of the 2010s; there’s a little something in this movie for everyone. While this can be seen as a sort of attempt at trying to be everything at once, viewers who try to look into it are forgetting the main concept of a musical — sitting back and enjoying the show. 

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