Sunday, December 25, 2016

Theater Whore: La La Land


La La Land 10/10

I got to see La La Land with Cam at the Arclight over on Sunset and I have to say that this movie made me all kinds of happy! Just pure happy! This is why movies are made and why I go to see them. I love when a movie makes me feel something strongly whether its joy, excitement, or laughter. I'm not into being sad. I know. Weird, right? Cam says she would for sure call this movie a musical while I think its just the way older films were made where all of a sudden people would just start dancing and singing to express how they feel. Hell, I do it with Cam and my cousin Jasmine. I'll just make up songs or dance like an ass because I am excited or on a food high which strikes just before getting the “itis.” If this movie doesn't cheer you up maybe you shouldn't have come right after a funeral.


If you are not on board with this movie after the opening dancing and singing number Cam and I both agreed that you should probably leave. I am glad no one was looking at me during this scene because I was smiling very hard. We are introduced to Mia played by Emma Stone stuck in this traffic. She works as a barista on a studio lot and wants to be an actress. That old tale. She is lost in her script and gets honked at by a guy we later learn is Sebastian played by Ryan Gosling. She gives him the finger as he passes her by shaking his head. She goes to an audition and does not get the role. Having a huge coffee stain on her shirt didn't help. Later that night her roommates drag her out for a night out and she ends up having her car towed.


At home Sebastian gets chewed out by his sister for not paying his bills and wasting time saving up money for his own jazz club. Later while playing Christmas songs he does not want to play his boss Bill played by J.K Simmons warns him not to play whatever he wants and to follow the set list. While playing he goes off and does what he wants and gets fired. At that moment Mia is passing by and sees him. Just as she is telling him how great he plays he shoves past her and leaves. She later sees him playing for an 80's cover band at a party and mocks him. He walks her to her car and they both sing about how much they are not right for one another. Its pretty damned cool. Like I said, there is music and dancing in this.


One day Sebastian shows up to her job and gets her to leave. He takes her to a jazz club and she confesses that she hates jazz music. He explains to her why it is so great and where it came from, trying to get her to understand that it is not elevator music. They plan to meet for a date and she agrees forgetting that she has a date with a guy she has been seeing for the past month. While out to a boring ass dinner Sebastian is in the theater looking sad hoping she will come. She does after excusing herself from that late as dinner. They end up leaving after the film breaks and go dancing at the Griffith Observatory.

I think I am not gonna talk about what else happens because I don't want to spoil it. I thought at a few points that I knew where this movie was going and it turned out that I was wrong. This movie had great acting, music, dancing, story, and writing. One thing I noticed was how the scenes were not super edited and cut up. They would sit and talk for minutes at a time without the camera jumping over each of their shoulders. This was also written and directed by the guy that did Whiplash. See this movie if you want to feel good.

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