{"id":8255,"date":"2017-01-22T23:38:44","date_gmt":"2017-01-23T04:38:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/?p=8255"},"modified":"2017-01-23T16:12:15","modified_gmt":"2017-01-23T21:12:15","slug":"la-la-land-old-hollywood-meets-jazz-in-a-dazzling-spectacle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/archives\/8255","title":{"rendered":"La La Land: Old Hollywood Meets Jazz in a Dazzling Spectacle"},"content":{"rendered":"
La La Land<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

(01.22.2017) By Jared Martin<\/strong> — With the Oscars fast approaching it seems that La La Land<\/em> is the movie to beat. Coming in with momentum after sweeping the Golden Globes, this film has already won an unprecedented seven awards.<\/p>\n

The film is predicted to win several categories at the Academy Awards, and after seeing the film, it\u2019s easy to see why.\u00a0 La La Land<\/em> is a charming film dedicated to a spirit of optimism, anchored by an old Hollywood-style script with all the Technicolor magic of modern film-making.<\/p>\n

The movie follows an aspiring actress, Mia, and a struggling jazz pianist, Sebastian, played by Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling respectively. Over time, as the two cross paths chasing their prospective dreams, they fall in love. It\u2019s a tale told throughout Hollywood history, and it\u2019s a musical as well; a genre that\u2019s existed since movies have had sound.<\/p>\n

The music in the movie is fantastic; good thing too, because there is a lot of it. A large\u00a0portion of the music is instrumental. Only six songs include vocals, written by Broadway composers Pasek & Paul.<\/p>\n

It may seem like an odd choice, but the movie is every bit as enthusiastic about jazz as it is for classic Hollywood musicals. The opening number, \u201cAnother Day of Sun,\u201d is the single big number of the film, with a pleasant melody and sing-along ensemble chorus. The rest of the soundtrack is made up of classy jazz pieces, slower ballads, and John Legend\u2019s poppy fusion contribution. The singing, depending on who you ask, is either atrocious or charmingly amateur.<\/p>\n

Songs aside, Stone and Gosling shine in the movie. They have palpable chemistry and are incredibly likable in their roles. Carrying the film’s majority\u00a0they deftly handle the lighthearted romance while giving emotional weight to their characters\u2019 career struggles.<\/p>\n

While the script isn\u2019t trying to break boundaries, it is well written with likable characters and a simple plot. It\u2019s tightly written, with no major inconsistencies. The story might be a little too plain for some, and it may appear to wear its influences a little too prominently.<\/p>\n

Gosling and Stone are fantastic, and the music is wonderful and charming, but the real heroes of the film are director Damien Chazelle and cinematographer Linus Sandgren.<\/p>\n

Every scene is beautiful and a treat for the eyes, but what are most impressive are the extended shots. Most of the musical numbers were filmed in one take, which is an incredible feat in choreography, cinematography, and timing.<\/p>\n

There are an impressive number of visual tricks in Chazelle\u2019s bag, including grand spinning shots, interstellar dance scenes in one of Hollywood\u2019s most iconic locations, and extended sequences of dreamy escapism.<\/p>\n

The movie\u2019s greatest plot strength is the unsinkable sense of optimism. Even when the characters go through low points, the movie never loses the sense that it\u2019s going to work out.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a movie that\u2019s full of\u00a0lighthearted fun, an escape from the dreariness of everyday life. The characters are so excited about their passions, you can\u2019t help but be excited too, even if you aren\u2019t a fan of old-school filmography. It\u2019s refreshing to see a film unabashedly embrace things that aren\u2019t considered \u201ccool\u201d anymore.<\/p>\n

This isn\u2019t a perfect movie, and it does occasionally seem to think it\u2019s a little deeper than it actually is. While it is very fun it takes itself a little too seriously at times. Stone and Gosling\u2019s dancing isn\u2019t great, and it borrows a little too heavily on occasion.<\/p>\n

However, La La Land<\/em> is still head and shoulders above a lot of recent movies. Definitely check it out, if for no other reason to see why Damien Chazelle is on stage for half of the Oscars.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(01.22.2017) By Jared Martin — With the Oscars fast approaching it seems that La La Land is the movie to beat. Coming in with momentum after sweeping the Golden Globes, this film has already won an unprecedented seven awards. The film is predicted to win several categories at the Academy Awards, and after seeing the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":80,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[205],"tags":[46738,46777],"class_list":["post-8255","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-arts-entertainment","tag-entertainment","tag-movies"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8255","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/80"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8255"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8255\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8264,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8255\/revisions\/8264"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8255"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8255"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8255"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}