La La Land

2019 

Director-Damien Chazelle

Starring- Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone

 This is a new Movie review page on our website called Movies Made After You Were Born. These reviews are inspired by the old movie review articles done by Alumni Clay Petersen called Movies Made Before You Were Born. I will be reviewing modern movies made after anyone in the current high school was born, so cut off being 2010. I will go into all the details of the movie, analyze it, give my opinions, and concur a final rating. I am starting this to help you guys pick your next weekend movie watch. This is the beginning of many more reviews to come. I hope you enjoy it!

Last night, I had the pleasure of watching the beautiful film La La Land. It was nominated for 14 Academy Awards and won 6 of them. This movie was well-rounded and enticing from beginning to end. The use of music was extraordinary and brought a whole new life to the screenplay. I will be rating this movie on ten different criteria and diving into why I gave it that rating for each, so I hope you enjoy it!

Plot (Story Arc and Plausibility): 8 out of 10

The pacing of this plotline was so well-orchestrated. I feel as if the transitions could have been ever so slightly smoother, but then again, I liked the way it flat-out told us what season it was. I am giving this an 8 because I am deducting two points for the plausibility factor. This was almost too plausible, and with information, you could easily infer what was going to happen next. Besides that, the arc was absolutely beautiful, sad, and funny at times. It had a fantastic contrast of characters and plot lines.

Attraction (Premise & Entertainment Value): 9 out of 10

The attraction element was prominent in this movie. The only thing I will say is that it wasn’t versatile for all, solely because it is a musical. On the contrary, that’s what I personally loved about it; every time I heard a note play, I was instantly enticed. There wasn’t a dull moment in this entire film, and I give it a lot of kudos for it. I also will say that I am not into movies where the main plot line is a love story, however, this film did it enticingly. It kept me entertained, and I didn’t look at my phone once from start to finish. 

Theme (Identity & Depth): 8 out of 10

This is something that I am heavily conflicted about because while it had depth, at the same time, it did not. It was only until the last scene that at least I think we see the true depth of their relationship come into play. But I also will say I think that might have been the director’s intent. However, I think the depth of the characters was incredible; Emma Stone’s monologue felt so raw and real and added so much depth to her character.

Acting (Characters & Performance): 9 out of 10

Speaking of Emma Stone, her performance in this was absolutely, indefinitely Oscar-worthy; henceforth, her winning best actress for it. From the first moment we see her on screen, we know her character, a struggling actress with dreams of making it big in LA. She completely encapsulated her character and looked fabulous doing it. I will say I wish we saw a little more character development from her aside from her liking jazz now. Ryan Gosling is such a versatile actor, and I think we see this from him in this role. Just like Emma we immediately can see his snobby doesn’t believe in love only jazz character from him the moment we see him. I think his character development was incredible; we see him change and learn to love and grow for someone. 

Dialogue (Storytelling & Context): 8 out of 10

There is one scene in this movie that tells such a great story within the story, and I think that right there shows how well this story was told. The raw dialogue between Ryan and Emma is extraordinary. However, I liked the storytelling through song almost more than I did through our dialogue. I think these songwriters excelled in storytelling with their writing, and it brought a whole different aspect to the movie. The scene where City of Stars plays is absolutely phenomenal and shows the raw love he has for her so well. As well as the scene where Someone In The Crowd is performed, we see the hope and defeat of Mia’s dreams all in one song. 

Cinematography (Visual Language & Lighting, Setting, and Wardrobe): 10 out of 10 

Wow. The use of lighting in this movie was beyond astonishing. The way the light is used in every single scene brought a whole new life to it. The set of this movie was equally as beautiful as the lighting. Every single scene was pretty to look at, and that is something I value so much. Even in scenes of sorrow, it still looked exquisitely alluring; and being based in hollywood it had beautiful scenes of the city. The wardrobe was also undeniably beautiful; Emma Stone’s purple dress will live on forever. The wardrobe, combined with the lighting, made this movie so appealing that I couldn’t take my eyes off of the screen. 

Editing (Pace & Effects): 8 out of 10

There isn’t much to say for the editing of this film other than that it was good but not great. The editing in the beginning of the film was so perfect; the way it transitioned from scene to scene was beautiful. Near the end of the film, it felt slightly rushed. I understand it was the director’s purpose to have a time jump, but to me, it felt too fast. Other than that aspect, scene-to-scene editing was done effortlessly and well. 

Soundtrack (Sound Design & Film Score): 10 out of 10

This film won Best Original Score for a reason: it is outstandingly amazing. Not only the perfect musical numbers but just the pure sound of the movie added so much depth to it and made the film for me. This movie also gave me a whole new found perspective on jazz music. The pure beauty of the singular piano notes brought forth life to the film that would have lacked it had it not been there. The score was exceptional, but let’s be honest any score done by Justin Hurwitz is going to be. 

Directing (Vision & Execution): 9 out of 10 

Damien Chazzelle is a phenomenal director, ranging from Whiplash to Babylon; he is extraordinary (Babylon will be my next movie review).  He completely executed his vision without fail. Every aspect of this movie felt like it was made with complete and under intention; no scene felt like it didn’t belong. The way Emma Stone’s line delivery was done makes me feel like Damien spent a lot of time with her, making it perfect. 

The “It” Factor (One-of-a-Kind & Transcendent)

To me, this movie’s it factor was the use of lighting and the soundtrack. The cinematography and light use was enough to make me cry even if this movie didn’t have a plot. While watching, those are the two factors that stuck out to me the most and rose above what I thought this movie would be like. Kudos to Damien on the cinematography, and kudos to Justin for that score, which was miraculously well done.

Final thoughts+ Final rating

Overall, this movie transcended my expectations and completely deserved every accolade it was given. If you want to watch a film that has raw emotion and pure beauty, this is definitely for you. I very much recommend this for your next rainy day watch; I give this a final rating of 9 out of 10!