It has been a long time since I last posted something in this blog. But here I am, writing a review of a modern day Movie musical written and directed by Damien Chazelle, the guy who also made Whiplash, a movie that I really like. I know that some people might be a bit skeptical about movie musicals, but I think even if you're not exactly the musical type, you'd like - or even love La La Land.
I watched this movie about two weeks ago but I didn't want to directly review it like I did in my first two reviews because I wanted to make sure if I really liked La La Land or is it just because I was baper (if you don't speak Bahasa Indonesia, baper is an Indonesian slang word for bawa perasaan which means that you're being so sensitive to everything, put ahead feelings and emotions to everything, easily touched), and this movie does make you baper with the romance and chemistry between the two lead actors, Emma Stone who plays Mia, an aspiring actress, and Ryan Gosling who plays Sebastian, a jazz pianist.
For a movie musical, the opening scene is one of, or maybe the most crucial part. It determines whether the audience will be hooked or bail. La La Land's hooked me. This movie got me into it from the start, and I couldn't wait to see what it has got in store for me. Following the opening scene, the movie leads you to the life of Mia (Emma Stone), an aspiring actress in LA who works in a coffee shop while auditioning for roles that don't seem to come easy. After another bad day, Mia walks pass a restaurant and overhears passionate jazz music - played by Sebastian (Ryan Gosling) despite orders from the owner of the restaurant (J.K. Simmons). This is their first real encounter, and the journey starts from there.
Because this is a musical, I paid a lot of attention to the music (obviously), to see whether they sing ALL of the dialogues (which is a bit annoying for me) or if they utilize music to tell and support the story. La La Land does the second. This movie utilizes music to enhance storytelling and to engage the audience, music freaks or not. I told my friend who doesn't get music at all to watch this movie, and although skeptical at first, she came out of the cinema singing the movie's soundtrack all day. I'm not kidding. (Hint: you might be singing, humming, or blasting your headphones with La La Land's soundtrack after watching. Particularly the song "City Of Stars").
Another important element of a musical is dancing. And again, La La Land did great. I was so thrilled with the dance number "A Lovely Night", and believe me, I'm not the dancing type. That scene made me want to actually try to be good at dancing.
Damien Chazelle is the man when it comes to shooting music and dancing. He made all the dance numbers very interesting and vivid but never corny, and all the music/singing real and engaging. I didn't feel bored throughout this movie. Enjoyed every second of it.
One of the most common complaints about movie musicals is how unrealistic they are. La La Land is a rare exception. Even if they sing and dance, the story is very realistic, and it depicts the reality of people who aspire, people who work hard, people who are passionate - people who dream. There's one beautiful song in this movie called "The Fools Who Dream", and the scene when Mia sings this song brought me to tears. It's raw emotion through music, singing, film, and art.
As a whole, La La Land captures the love of music, film, and art magnificently, and this is the type of movie that everyone will enjoy in a moderate or a deeper level. I'm gonna give La La Land a 9.5 out of 10.
For a movie musical, the opening scene is one of, or maybe the most crucial part. It determines whether the audience will be hooked or bail. La La Land's hooked me. This movie got me into it from the start, and I couldn't wait to see what it has got in store for me. Following the opening scene, the movie leads you to the life of Mia (Emma Stone), an aspiring actress in LA who works in a coffee shop while auditioning for roles that don't seem to come easy. After another bad day, Mia walks pass a restaurant and overhears passionate jazz music - played by Sebastian (Ryan Gosling) despite orders from the owner of the restaurant (J.K. Simmons). This is their first real encounter, and the journey starts from there.
Because this is a musical, I paid a lot of attention to the music (obviously), to see whether they sing ALL of the dialogues (which is a bit annoying for me) or if they utilize music to tell and support the story. La La Land does the second. This movie utilizes music to enhance storytelling and to engage the audience, music freaks or not. I told my friend who doesn't get music at all to watch this movie, and although skeptical at first, she came out of the cinema singing the movie's soundtrack all day. I'm not kidding. (Hint: you might be singing, humming, or blasting your headphones with La La Land's soundtrack after watching. Particularly the song "City Of Stars").
Another important element of a musical is dancing. And again, La La Land did great. I was so thrilled with the dance number "A Lovely Night", and believe me, I'm not the dancing type. That scene made me want to actually try to be good at dancing.
Damien Chazelle is the man when it comes to shooting music and dancing. He made all the dance numbers very interesting and vivid but never corny, and all the music/singing real and engaging. I didn't feel bored throughout this movie. Enjoyed every second of it.
One of the most common complaints about movie musicals is how unrealistic they are. La La Land is a rare exception. Even if they sing and dance, the story is very realistic, and it depicts the reality of people who aspire, people who work hard, people who are passionate - people who dream. There's one beautiful song in this movie called "The Fools Who Dream", and the scene when Mia sings this song brought me to tears. It's raw emotion through music, singing, film, and art.
As a whole, La La Land captures the love of music, film, and art magnificently, and this is the type of movie that everyone will enjoy in a moderate or a deeper level. I'm gonna give La La Land a 9.5 out of 10.
