La La Land (2016)

Director: Damien Chazelle

Screenwriter: Damien Chazelle

SPOILERS AHEAD!

The film that took the world by storm. I don't remember a film so hyped - completely out of nowhere, I might add - in the past five years. Perhaps the closest any film will ever get to winning 'Best Picture' at the Oscars without actually winning 'Best Picture' at the Oscars. So, is it any good?

Let me get this out of the way first: La La Land is not a musical. It is wrong to call any film that goes more than half an hour between songs a musical and this is not what La La Land is. It is a film about music with songs in it, but it is not a musical. So I will not be judging La La Land mainly on how good a musical it is, or comparing it to West Side Story, Grease or Les Mis.

Aside from that...this film is a lot of fun. Throughout, I got the sense Damien Chazelle has dreamed of making this for a long time. For better or for worse, it adds to the theme of dreams - the theme that drives this film. It feels like the movie is one long dream, with many fantastical scenes and shots throughout and Chazelle uses this effectively to further the movie's main theme.

The movie does fall down a little bit when it comes to plot. The plot is perfectly simple and easy to follow and it tells a great story - but it is a little too simple. Things fall into place a little bit too easily all of the time and the main conflict of the film is over far too quickly. John Legend is undoubtedly the cast's weakest member as Keith - while the casting of the only black member of the main players in the role of the "enemy to jazz" could be seen as a bit riské given the history of jazz as a music genre influenced more by black people than any other.

There are plenty of positives, however. The film is surprisingly funny and has a strong charm to it, aided by its two leading lights, Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone. Two of the most talented young actors currently in Hollywood, the two drive the story brilliantly and have obvious chemistry as star-crossed lovers. Stone deserved her Oscar based on the audition scene alone, while Gosling was unfortunate to come up against Casey Affleck's star turn in Manchester By The Sea. Any other year and Gosling's name surely would have been on the 'Best Actor' trophy.

This film is kept afloat by the superb acting of its two leads, alongside two other strong elements: the cinematography and the music. Whatever about Stone, this film was always guaranteed two Oscars and they were 'Best Cinematography' and 'Best Original Score'. There's at least one gorgeous shot in each scene and several jaw droppers throughout the film. And the music...can you tell me honestly that you didn't sway and click along to Another Day of Sun?

This gorgeous shot is just one example of this film's superb, Oscar-winning cinematography

There is one final element of this film I have to address: the ending. One of the most divisive endings to a film of recent years, my opinion has changed over repeated viewings. I've now watched this film three times and, while I do like the execution of the ending (that dream montage and its accompanying Epilogue piece are simply gorgeous), I like it less and less every time I watch the film. I enjoy a bleak ending to a film when it's done right but...I feel like it goes against everything Chazelle has spend telling us throughout the film: that dreams do come true. I feel like Chazelle slightly undermines his main message of the film with the ending and it's my one main bugbear with this film.

But, on the whole, La La Land is great. It's a very easy to watch film and it's a lot of fun, explaining why it's so rewatchable. If you haven't seen it yet - and my description of the ending hasn't put you off! - you should definitely check it out!

by EOIN HARRINGTON