Academy Award Times – La La Land

It is a big movie time for me now. The nominations for Academy Awards are out, and it is very hot in Sydney, so air conditioned movie theatres are a good place to spend time in. I decided to see most of the nominated films and made a good start. I have already seen La La Land, Jackie and Lion. They are three very different films, stirring different emotions. The first made me feel light and happy, the second left me depressed, and the third made me cry. It looks that all three of them did a good emotional job on me. Does it mean that they are all very good films?  I am not so sure.

Surprisingly, I liked best La La Land. Surprisingly, because I am not that keen on musicals and at first I even decided to skip the film and then luckily changed my mind. I changed my mind out of curiosity but did not expect to like the film. My reluctance to see a musical was perhaps caused by some snobbishness and old belief that only serious films are worthwhile to admire. Feel good films have their place of course, but not on the list of Oscar nominations. Well, I changed my mind.

There are many things about La La Land that I think deserve recognition. The warmth and natural attractiveness of the main characters are amongst many others. Ryan Gosling has been on my list to pay attention to since The Ides of March. Now I can see how versatile he is and I will try not miss any of his films in the future. Very sexy too.

I was totally absorbed by the film and the story. The time of the projection passed very fast for me. Everything is pleasant about the film. The soundtrack, choreography, costumes and the story itself. It has not often been enough for me to watch a pleasant film and consider it really good on the strength of its pleasantness. There is a message or two there, but they are not that strong to carry the film to the verdict of being exceptional. 

I was not impressed by the first scene when the cars are stopped by the traffic jam on the highway to Los Angeles – La La  Land of the young and hopefuls. Suddenly the travellers jump out of their cars and burst into song and dance. This was a bit sudden and artificial to me. Not that musicals or musical films are particularly realistic, but too much is too much.

Here I will quickly contradict myself. La La Land is at times compared to The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, the film I saw ages ago and loved it for its tenderness, romantic story, music, some sweet sadness and the beauty of each scene. I see strong similarities between the two films and I perhaps should not complain at the convention which was never intended to be realistic. Maybe the film’s fairy tale qualities are just the reason why it appealed to me and so many others so strongly?

Here is a sample of the French version of a musical film - The Umbrellas of Cherbourg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqzQn15mFao

Since I have been pondering on relationships and their nature which according to my life observations are usually transient, this film gave me another opportunity to reflect and see the power and value of relationships which may pass but still propel us to another, higher plane of character development.

So, I warmly recommend the film and give it 9 out of 10.

My impressions and observations after watching Lion and Jackie will most likely come a bit later.