Yes, it is the first proper musical that has been made for a while but there was a lack of music in it. Something like four songs in the entire film and I was expecting something with about ten songs in it to make it a real musical. Even Hairspray has more songs than La la land has in it. The music is catchy and the opening song sets the feel for a typical musical- dancing all around a standstill motorway in bright colours that can't pass for a random costume selection. You do find yourself starting to dance a lot with that song and there are great singers in the first number but my sceptical brain was questioning the reality of it. There's no way in any musical that when you are dancing down the middle of the street everyone will join in with you but I have been known to dance down the street- I have yet to know of someone who has decided to get out of their car on the motorway and get everyone else to dance with them. It's a great concept but make it a little more real.
Emma Stone rightly picked up the 'best female actor' award at the BAFTA's and she was deserving of it. The character was complex and being able to portray it in the way that she did was fantastic. The character in every way was balanced and that I liked about it. I saw 'La la land' on the same day that I saw 'Fences' and the emotional outburst from Viola Davis meant that I got to see everything from an acting point of view. Emma Stone was a controlled emotional outburst and Viola Davis wasn't. Her voice has potential, a lot of potential but it isn't strong enough, she needs to spend some time with a vocal coach before her next singing role because she has a great voice that needs some strength to it.
Ryan Gosling- where to start. I just am not convinced by him in anyway. Action or Romantic roles, he just is not convincing. Having said all that, he can sing- has a great voice (albeit rather limited in range) that was strong and worked really well for the songs and the three months that they spent in choreography rehearsals really paid off as they had a range of dancing that made everything look really good. Piano lessons for three months also paid off because it is always his hands on the keys that you see and he can actually play the piano but when you hear all the songs being played with other instruments it isn't him playing- what you see is him playing but what you hear is someone else unless it is a slow song. Jazz is really difficult to play at speed. It's probably the hardest form of music to just play because of all the accidentals involved and the rhythm. Slow jazz is okay once you get your head around it but to just pull it out like his character does requires some serious work that three months doesn't quite cover but we applaud the effort from everyone and the decision to go with his hands and not someone else's.
Watching a character who thought so much of himself playing the keytar and keyboard for the songs 'Take on Me' and 'I Ran' was comical, especially when he follows it up with his comment to her about asking serious musicians to play songs like that. Personally I really like those songs and I also like Jazz, they are different skills and different styles but it doesn't mean that someone playing those songs isn't as good as someone playing jazz it's just that jazz predominately features a piano in most work and rock music is selective over when they use it with Bon Jovi being one of the few bands that automatically spring to mind as having a keys player. Don't knock the music and don't think that you are above what anyone else wants you to play. I guess what I am trying to say is that the character of 'Seb' is weak. At times the character was brilliant and strong but at times he just didn't know what to do or who to be and it didn't say much for him at all.
John Legend's slight cameo as 'Keith' was really nice. I don't know if he can actually play the guitar but listening to him sing was relaxing and I am all for current charts musicians taking on roles in musicals so as to show that they can do other things.
Some of the scenes were a little unreal. The walking in the air springs to mind as something that was just ridiculous. We all love some fantasy moments with good music but make it real. If it's just a dream then do whatever you want but it was never supposed to be a dream and that bothered me a little. Look at old movies- when they dance on ice it is because they were already ice skating. If you are going to walk in the air then at least make out like you are playing with wires somewhere where you would expect wires.
Okay, the worst part and most confusing part was the end of the film. Until this point I thought that it was a really good film with a few flaws but actually doing really well. They do the epilogue thing of 'five years later' which kinda didn't go as expected but once you get to that point you know that it wont end the way that you want it to but when they go back and show an alternate ending you are a little confused by the entire thing. Which way did it actually end? I know that showing both endings meant that they both got what they wanted but it wasn't half confusing! I wouldn't say that it was a happy ending but when there clearly is no proposal for a sequel wrap the ending up nicely one way or the other but don't leave everyone feeling really confused by it.
We expect to see more from Emma Stone, a lot more and have high hopes for her future. Ryan Gosling will still be considered attractive by some and be cast in similar films as he is considered the 'hottest' thing in film at the moment but that will pass unless he starts stepping up his game a little but he can sing, dance and play the piano so he has all the tools to make something really good of his future. Maybe he can be like Keira Knightley who learnt how to be good in films with age.
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