[Movie Review] ‘La La Land’ is nostalgic but hollow

La La Land (Golden Village Pictures)
La La Land (Golden Village Pictures)

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Should you watch this at weekday movie ticket prices? Yes.

Should you watch this at weekend movie ticket prices? No.

Score: 3.0/5

Secret ending? No.

Running time: 128 minutes (~2.25 hours)

“La La Land” is a romantic comedy musical.

It is the love story of two creatives – a musician and an actress – in contemporary Los Angeles. Will their love prevail, or will they be doomed by their creativity? Only a song can tell you that.

It stars Ryan Gosling (Sebastian Wilder), Emma Stone (Mia Dolan), John Legend (Keith), Rosemarie DeWitt (Laura Wilder), J. K. Simmons (Bill). It is rated PG-13.

“La La Land” feels like a Disney movie for adults. No, it’s not an adult film, it’s PG-13 after all. It appeals to the wistful memories we all have of the past, and literally serves up the film in rose-tinted glasses. While the songs are entertaining and the sets are a visual feast, the story is ultimately a purposeless one. It feels like a modern day fairytale which ends crappily.

Highlights

Fun musical numbers

Of course, all musicals use the flimsiest of excuses to let the characters burst into song, but they take the opportunity to ham it up here by letting them burst into song in the cheesiest ways. Combined with the jazz musical numbers, it serves to give a gentle charm to the film, one that could almost pass for the more straightforward, innocent movies of the past.

Vintage feel

Clearly, a lot of time was spent on the colour correction and treating the film so that it looks like something from a film archive. It’s convincing enough that you sometimes forget that this film takes place in the modern day, only to be jolted back to reality by the sight of a mobile phone or a laptop. It pays off by making the film feel whimsical and optimistic.

Thoughtful art direction 

And then there’s the art direction. It’s done so carefully and lovingly, with every prop serving to enrich the story (rather than frittering away the budget). You don’t just know that Mia (Emma Stone) is strapped for cash – the cracks across her iPhone screen speaks volumes of the desperation of a millennial. For once, a globe is used to signify the wanderlust of a character, rather than just keeping the globe production industry alive.

Letdowns

Meandering story

If there’s a point to the story, it’s lost under all the whining. You finish the film not really knowing what was the objective of the plot. Yes, the characters learnt… something. But couldn’t it have been a greater truth about life, rather than just being the last squeak of a deflated (but formerly promising) balloon? To exacerbate matters, it’s a musical, which means the plot is even shorter than a usual film. For it to feel dragged out must mean that it would have sent us to sleep in a normal film.

Wishy washy characters 

You can’t deny the aesthetic appeal of Seb (Ryan Gosling) and Mia. But character-wise, they have all the decisiveness of a lallang. We know what they want since they’re a musician and actress, respectively, but they can’t seem to hold on to one opinion long enough for it to materialise into anything productive.

“La La Land” is nostalgic but hollow.

“La La Land” opens in cinemas:
– 8 December 2016 (Singapore)
– 9 November 2016 (Philippines)

Marcus Goh is a Singapore television scriptwriter. He’s also a Transformers enthusiast and avid pop culture scholar. He Tweets/Instagrams at Optimarcus and writes at marcusgohmarcusgoh.com. The views expressed are his own.

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