La La Land

I'm sure nothing I write will not have already been covered by far more knowledgeable and insightful critics. I don't have much to say. My mom may be disappointed as she liked my reflection on Paterson. That film touched me a lot more than this one. This one was very good, and I did in fact cry (I think I can relate very much to the fear of not being good enough and not achieving one's dreams) but I didn't have a special love for it. I can confirm that it is excellent and gave it 5 stars on Letterboxd, but it also didn't talk to me in the way some other films have. I didn't think La La Land would be able to live up to its hype, a thing so massive that it seems to have developed its own sentient mind. But it really did. From the first moment in the traffic jam I knew I was going to enjoy the film. Ryan Gosling's charm made Mansplainer Seb rather likeable. The large amount of montages in the middle didn't seem like a drag when I was watching it –– I only realised how many of them there were later –– because it was a time when the film indulged in its own lush production design, which is really one of its biggest selling points. The colors! A film for people who are sick of the rain that makes their toes wet, a film for people who are left exhausted by headlines, a relentlessly optimistic film. I very much enjoyed the ending. When she first kissed a different man I thought it would pull out to reveal she was actually shooting a movie and that Mia and Seb were happily together. I was very sad and disappointed. But after that marvellous parallel montage, I realised it was for the better.

It is a sincere, wide-eyed ode to Old Hollywood, a sopping romantic that pays homage to traditional cinema and gleefully plays with clichés. It is truly a breath of fresh air, a wondrous feel-good film that leaves you with an eye for the beautiful small details of the world. In a way, it is the musical of all musicals, deftly signing off the epoch. I expect all future musicals to look forwards, not backwards.

The Léman after La La Land: