La La Land L

                                                                                          January 28, 2017

The title La La Land, means:

“the mental state of someone who is not aware of what is really happening. La-La Land —used as a nickname for Los Angeles, California”,

The film is a combination of traditional l Hollywood musicals and drama. To legitimize the film as a musical the opening scene has Angelinos stuck in traffic breaking out in joyous spontaneous song and dance. Would this work on the FDR?

The theme of the movie is “things that could have been”. Ryan Gosling is a pianist who loves jazz but compromises his principals to get steady work. Emma Stone is a barista/actress who feels defeated by dead end auditions. As with all musicals boy meets girl and hearts a flutter. For musical talents, Gosling took six months training to play the piano. He was impressive; his fingering was more complicated as the film progressed. His singing was more like those Grammy spoken word awards. Emma Stone has more of a singing voice and gives a solid Broadway rendition.

As for the dancing neither one was Fred Aster or Ginger Rogers. Their numbers were heavily choreographed. You could almost hear them saying, 123…123…123. In tribute to Busby Berkeley one number had them dancing in the air with stars courtesy of the Griffith Observatory.  

Gosling and Stone are outstanding dramatic actors and when the film focuses on their relationship without song and dance, they are in their element. The relationship is complicated as both pursue their dreams. They support each other and fall away from each other. The consequences of their actions give the film a complexity, with a ting of sadness, unusual for musicals.

Adulation for this film is wide spread. Unlike the Golden Globes the Oscars do not have a musical/comedy category. How do you compare this movie to the current crop great dramas? How do you nominate Ryan Gosling as best actor as opposed Denzel Washington or Andrew Garfield? How does Emma Stone compete with Viola Davis or Nicole Kidman or Taraji P. Henson?

Every few years Hollywood gets nostalgic. Back in 2011 the black and white silent screen film “The Artist” won best picture. This could be one of those years.