Discuss La La Land
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What a lousy musical.
posted by catmydogsSTAFFMOD on March 1, 2020 at 10:54 PM
I love musicals, and this is a pretty lousy one. The early songs are terrible, the choreography was pretty bad, and I couldn’t understand the singers well. They mumbled or the vocals were mixed much too low. How on earth did this film get nominated for Oscars in sound mixing or editing? As for the concept, similar musicals like Umbrella of Cherbourg, Young Girls of Rochefort, or Everyone Says I Love You, did it much MUCH better. The less said about Rex or Emma’s “singing” the better.
Or the dancing. It was cringworthy; I was embarrassed for them. Check out Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers in “A Fine Romance” from Shall We Dance. They don’t dance at all in that number, they just walk around yet they moved about so much more naturally.
Now, that said, as a romantic comedy, LaLa was actually pretty good. And the score was good. They should have kept it as a rom com, and I’d recommend it as such. But not as a musical. The film did get better as it progressed. And I did enjoy it more than Moonlight (pretty lousy too for a Best Picture.... Midnight Cowboy was a MUCH better film).
Reply by Philippe LeMarchand
on March 3, 2020 at 6:41 AM
Glad I'm not the only one who disliked it!
I thought the dancing was OK, but I can't remember a single song from it. Horribly overrated IMHO.
Reply by znexyish
on March 7, 2020 at 11:20 PM
I was puzzled by it's acclaim too. For a film that was a throwback to older musical it's half baked ideas would never have passed muster back when it's inspirations were made. I believe that the opening number on the highway was a direct reference to the Young Girls of Rochfort's own opening scene. But where did all those characters go? Three or four tunes that are just okay. The rest should have been tested and replaced. I didn't buy the romance because Ryan's true love was jazz and Emma was set in being a star. Too long and too much a film students Hollywood fantasy. Too many endings fake and real one after another. However I do appreciate an original movie musical. Even though I found La La Land more movie with music then movie musical. Yeah and neither the leads are real singers or dancers.
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Reply by SueDNim
on March 17, 2020 at 2:12 PM
I have to agree. I love musicals, and I watched this one hopefully, despite all the bad reviews. I usually think those bad reviews are from people who don't enjoy or appreciate musicals. Nope. They were right. I watched it very recently, and I actually don't remember a thing about it, which is an indicator of just how very forgettable I found it to be. I love that musicals have sort of come back in fashion, but I'm positively aching for a good one. The last good modern musical I remember is Mamma Mia.
Reply by Philippe LeMarchand
on March 17, 2020 at 5:43 PM
Didn't you like The Greatest Showman? One that may have passed you by is "Sunshine on Leith": https://v5.themoviedb.org/movie/214100-sunshine-on-leith .
Reply by znexyish
on March 17, 2020 at 6:00 PM
While not a straight musical 2016s Sing Street is worth a look. An Irish film about a group of kids in the 1980s trying to start a band. Fun!
Reply by SueDNim
on March 17, 2020 at 6:01 PM
I can see that I have some catching up to do. I'll take all of your suggestions. Thanks.
Reply by Philippe LeMarchand
on March 17, 2020 at 6:53 PM
I'd second that one, too. A bit lower key, the director's breakthrough film, Once: https://v5.themoviedb.org/movie/5723-once (Begin Again is also quite nice if you enjoy the other two).
Reply by Philippe LeMarchand
on March 17, 2020 at 6:59 PM
TV:
Galavant (Deserved a much wider audience than it got)
Crazy Ex-Girlfriend (First 2 seasons in particular)
Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist (Only seen 2 eps, but seems promising - if very similar to Eli Stone)
Reply by JustinJackFlash
on March 17, 2020 at 7:25 PM
And I'll third that. Very enjoyable 80s retro musical.
Reply by Fergoose
on September 22, 2020 at 5:24 PM
Either this film is more unorthodox than and less straightforward than some think or I am very confused. I was close to quitting after the second song, but then the film was given some time to develop so I hung in there. I feel like the film succeeded in spite of the musical numbers, but also that the film needed the more dream based musical elements to succeed, no matter how instantly forgettable I found them or how limited the performances.
I also didn't find the 'romance' remotely compelling to the point that I dont actually think it was meant to be. Both are shown as being deeply flawed characters with flat out unpleasant traits (he barges into her because he is sulking, she shows a tendency to infidelity and appears embarrassed to talk about him). Both voluntarily walk away from each other without much of a struggle to keep the relationship going.
But the film succeeds in terms of creating an atmosphere, by musing both on 'following your (impossible) dreams' and also on dormant feelings for an ex that you thought was great in some ways, but were willing to part ways with. I think the leads deserve some credit for that, but mainly the director.
Not a world beater, but I'm glad it was made.
6/10