Official
Australian release date: 26/12/16. Viewed: 30/1/17.
Director:
Damien Chazelle
Actors:
Ryan Gosling, Emma Stone, John Legend, J.K. Simmons
Genre: Musical
Rating:
M
Lots of people have been asking if I’ve
seen ‘La La Land’, so I thought I had better give it a chance, even though
musicals aren’t my thing – better late than never, right? I always list the
four most prominent actors when I do a review, but I truly struggled to think
of anyone else to fill the 3rd & 4th slots, since
this film has two stars, and at least one of them is on screen the entire time,
with little time dedicated to anything/anyone else. Maybe not a bad thing, but
it does mean the film gets a bit monotonous.
Sebastian (Gosling) and Mia (Stone) are
easy to watch and are good in this, but I don’t think either of them is a
particularly good singer or dancer. My main problem with musicals is: why? If a
scene’s not interesting enough to sustain momentum without having song and
dance, then cut it! At least in animated films, they seem to find ways to weave
songs in organically – and they’re catchy. Here, I didn’t find any of the songs
very catchy or interesting – most are kind of mopey. Otherwise, it’s all quite predictable
– they fall in love, they chase their dreams, the end.
The ending is semi-interesting, but
every time I started to get pulled into the film when there’s a stretch with no
singing, it suddenly appears again – always out of context – and pushes me back
out. It’s definitely not a bad film, I just felt like nothing really happened –
sure, there’s some romance and they’re good actors, but there’s no real story
or humour to be found.
Overall: Average romance musical.
Gav's Rating: 2.5 stars.
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