La La Land Review

While watching Damien Chazelle’s La La Land, a peculiar thought came to mind. “I don’t want this movie to end, ever.” A lot of films are perfectly fine at escapism. We look at the pretty lights and colors, stand up when the credits roll, hang in the aisle when the after credits scene comes on, and then go back to our cars largely unchanged. As such, it feels all the more special when a movie not only helps us escape but provides a place that is almost impossible to come back from. Covered head to toe in blissful reverence for the Hollywood musicals of old, and seasoned with a sharp awareness of modern romance, every frame of La La Land is a labor of love for its audience.

After one of the most spectacular opening musical numbers ever put on film, we’re thrown into a tale of two dreamers. Mia Dolan (Emma Stone) is a barista at a studio backlot coffee shop with aspirations of acting and playwriting. Sebastian Wilder (Ryan Gosling) is a classical jazz pianist with a chip on his shoulder and overdue rent checks in his mailbox. After a series of chance encounters, these two starving artists find themselves enraptured in one another. The question is, can both of them chase their wildly ambitious goals while keeping a healthy relationship together.

Gosling and Stone have charmed our pants off before, but here they’re given a vehicle for an iconic Hollywood romance. Their chemistry explodes off the screen, striking a perfect balance between adorable and authentic. Sebastian and Mia aren’t an exaggerated movie couple going through the motions of a larger than life story. They feel like real people who just so happen to be caught up in a massive spectacle that tells their story. Gosling, who learned all of the complex piano parts played in the film, brings a cutting cynicism to Sebastian. However, the guy never becomes obnoxious. He’s arrogant, sure, but there’s something so inherently charming about his passion for jazz. Stone is an absolute force of nature here, showing the most range out of any role she’s taken on. We can’t help but fall in love with Mia’s drive to succeed, and Stone infuses her with so much earnestness and vulnerability that her successes and failures both hit hard.

Using these two wonderful performers to full effect, writer/director Chazelle emerges as the star of the show. The electric stylistic energy he brought to Whiplash certainly was no fluke. Conducting the music with his constantly moving camera, Chazelle infuses every number with a massive sense of scale. Long stretches go by without a single cut, even as his lens occasionally does more twirling than his dancers. He’s not content to just have his audience watch these songs, he wants us in on the action, practically singing and dancing along with the actors. These are numbers crafted from the ground up for film, not awkwardly transposed from the stage, and it shows. The skillful execution isn’t just left to the set pieces, though, as there is a palpable intimacy and maturity brought to the smaller moments. His screenplay deftly navigates between enchanting courtship and crushing anguish, all while injecting a great deal of humor into the proceedings. There are a couple mild pacing slumps in the second act, but when the film hits its heart-wrenching crescendo in its final moments, all is forgiven.

As for the songs themselves, Justin Hurwitz has crafted an endlessly listenable group of tunes. They all hover under the show tunes umbrella, but the lyricism is so dynamic that it doesn’t come off as overly theatrical. His jazzy score is also a highlight, adding an extra layer of beauty to the film’s quieter moments. It brings us into a Los Angeles that we certainly know but is more akin to the one advertised to us; elegant, culturally rich and full of possibility.

At the outset, it would be easy to write La La Land off as a diet soda tribute to the song and dance extravaganzas that helped mold the studio system. However, Chazelle has made a film so astonishingly delightful that it manages to join the ranks of those classic predecessors. In many ways, this is the millennial Singin’ In The Rain, a delicious slice of chocolate cake served in a cafe with amazing live music. It also may be the date movie of the decade. There may be films this year with more important things to say, but none of those will leave you with as wide and dumb a smile as this one. To the ones who dream of great cinema, here’s to you.

Rating: A+

Pitch Perfect 2 Review

In 2012, the world was treated to a rather fun little musical comedy by the name of Pitch Perfect. While it perhaps didn’t live up to it’s title, it was certainly better than it looked and brought acapella music groups back from obscurity in a big way. Now, almost three years later, the Barden Bellas with a bigger budget, some increased confidence, and a new director in the form of actress Elizabeth Banks. Normally sequels to surprise hits fall a least a little bit short, will this one have any of the same trebbles (I had to, I’m sorry).

We begin with the Bellas in a bit of a pinch, after a disastrous arial stunt by Fat Amy (Rebel Wilson) leads to an embarrassing scene in front of President Obama. Disgraced and alienated from competing at the college level, the group is forced to compete in an international competition against an arrogant and almost supernaturally talented German team. Yes, it’s basically Rocky 4 if people boxed with their mouths. Meanwhile, Beca (Anna Kendrick) starts to fear what life has in store for her after her impending graduation, and the team finds itself in the form of Emily (Hailee Steinfeld), who might ultimately be a little better at writing original songs than singing covers.

Pitch Perfect 2 establishes itself as a greatly amped up version of it’s predecessor from moment one. It’s humor broader, it’s musical numbers bigger, and it’s characters a little thinner. This certainly removes a little of the emotional authenticity that was there before, but fortunately Banks and company make up for it big time in the humor department. I found myself constantly laughing here, frankly way more than I expected.

A great deal of this humor comes from the new well acquainted cast. Not only are Kendrick, Wilson, and the rest of the gang infectiously charming with wonderful comedic timing, but there’s a greater sense of camaraderie and friendship this time around. Since the characters are having so much fun, we’re having fun right along with them. Sure, there is a tiny bit of conflict within the group, but the film nicely sidesteps some fairly contrived troupes by having these characters talk issues out, and work through them. These people actually seem like friends, and as such, I not only found myself caring about them, but feeling like I was a part of the group when they rib and jab at each other. The only real weakness in the group is Steinfeld’s Emily, who is a touch too bland and ‘goody-goody gee wizz’ to really make an impression, surprising considering the fire Stienfeld has brought to other roles.

With that said, Banks does ride a fine line of absurd humor that does every so often get out of hand. For every wonderfully loopy musical number or perfectly placed insult, there’s an overcooked supporting character who will often beat their one joke into the ground. This ranges from certain members of the Bellas who are just there to say weird things, to John Michael Higgins’ commentator character saying just about every sexist, racist, and otherwise blunt word he can think of. All of these characters (Higgins in particular) are hysterical in small doses, but Banks hurts them all with the old “more is more” approach, that will leave certain audience members with a bad taste in their mouth, as the mean spirited stuff does throw off some of the momentum this sweet little film has otherwise.

One thing that is amped up in wonderful fashion is the music. The numbers here are punchy, use a nice mix of different styles, and are nicely sung by all. We really get a sense of the styles of the different teams here, particularly in a wonderful riff off sequence that manages to both recapture the magic of a key sequence in the original, while adding new touches, some of which are absolutely hysterical. There’s also one or two songs here that are allowed to just get flat out Broadway level silly, which is always welcome. I won’t lie, I’ve been listening to this soundtrack since I saw the movie on Thursday, and I’ll probably pop it on a few more times in the days to come.

Pitch Perfect 2 isn’t trying to do anything groundbreaking. It’s light on plot, and is mostly concerned with being a funny summer movie, and as that, it completely succeeds. As a matter of fact, in the process of not trying to be overly complicated, it nicely avoids a couple of standard sequel traps, and in some ways is a great deal more fun to watch than the original, even if it is not necessarily a better movie. Weirdly enough, some elements of the story function as something of a swan song for these characters, and that’s a shame, because I’ll certainly miss them when they’re gone.

Rating: B

Begin Again Review

Now this my friends, is a musical. Clint Eastwood, please take notes while reading this review.

Begin Again is a New York set story of two people as down on their luck as they could possibly get. Greta (Keira Knightley) is a singer/songwriter who has recently had her heart torn open by her partner/lover Dave (Adam Levine) who has cheated on her and stole one of her songs for his own use. Dan (Mark Ruffalo) is a disgraced music producer who hasn’t created anything of note in years, especially after his marriage to his cheating wife Miriam (Catherine Keener) fell apart, and he’s all but completely lost touch with his teenage daughter Violet (Hailee Stienfeld), only seeing her once or twice a month. By complete chance, a drunken Dan stumbles into a bar and hears Greta sing one of her songs, and like magic, his mind almost instantly has a vision. He can bring the best out of this young artist. Together, the two form a bond as they create an album for Greta using the city of New York as their studio.

 

I went into this movie completely blind. I had not seen one trailer, or really even heard anything about it other then that it was directed by John Carney, who’s previous effort Once is a cult classic that I have not yet seen. As such, I really didn’t know what I was expecting, but what I got is one of my favorite films of 2014 so far. Sound too good to be true? That’s because it is. While I loved this movie, it was not an easy journey getting there.

The first twenty five minutes or so of this movie are pretty rough. I don’t know if I was just adjusting to Carney’s style, or if it was genuinely bad just yet, but I’m pretty sure it was the latter. The characters begin this movie in a very stereotypical place, and the performances reflect that in a very over the top fashion. Knightley puts on just about every sad face she can without actually being very convincing,  Ruffalo comically overplays the drunken, easily angered Dan to maddening effect, and Stienfeld, who at one time seemed so promising in True Grit, is completely barren and flat. Also, the dialogue in this movie is very play-like, especially at first, and the movie spends no time easing you into it. While Carney shoots this like a down and dirty New York tale, what these characters are saying to each other is straight out of a 1950’s movie musical. It just does not jive at first.

But then, Ruffalo and Knightley meet, and everything that was wrong with the movie before quickly evaporates, and one of the most genuinely charming and touching films I’ve seen in a long time begins.

This is one of the only movies I’ve ever seen about music where the characters actually seem to love music. This is exemplified in the first scene where the movie really turns on, where Ruffalo visualizes an incredible arrangement behind Knightly’s seemingly anemic track, and carries through the rest of the film. There are so many electric conversations about the sheer creative process that ultimately goes into this album, and it’s so much fun to watch that all come together. It also helps that Knightly and Ruffalo have electric chemistry together. All of a sudden, what sounded stagey and fake when only one of them was on screen starts to flourish when the two are together. There’s moments of such euphoric happiness between them, especially when Carney is letting them act more visually. My favorite scene in this film, and one of the best scenes of any film this year is a simple sequence where our two leads are walking through the city listing to music together. Hardly any dialogue, just the natural dynamics doing their work, and it’s beautiful. As such, the movie finally starts to ground itself in it’s own slightly heightened but still very potent version of real life, and it’s absolutely entrancing.

Another pleasant surprise is the performance of Adam Levine. I think that a lot of the time, people really want to root against musicians trying something different, but I think he’s going to win a lot of fans here. His character isn’t written like the stereotypical jerk that populates these kind of movies, but a three dimensional man who’s struggling with balancing all of the different things he wants. Levine navigates all of this very nicely with some surprisingly subtle and grounded acting. Also, out of all the actors, he by far excels the most in the music category. The few songs he gets here sound like the music Maroon 5 used to make before they were eaten by the pop monster, and Levine’s vocals sound better than ever.

Speaking of music, the songs here are really solid. They strike that perfect, loving balance between rock and folk. Some work better than others. Most of them, especially the ones sung by Levine absolutely sour, but some definitely blend together. Knightly’s singing leaves a little to be desired, with all of her numbers having very similar arrangements that make it feel like one expanded song. With that said, it is still perfectly serviceable and she has one song towards the end of the film that is absolutely fantastic.

What really carries this thing over the top for me is how everything ultimately resolves. No spoilers here, but I was very impressed with how organically the characters come to their conclusion It’s not the typical ending you see in so many of these type of films, spitting in the face of cliche and providing a resolution that is a perfect blend of optimism and cynicism. It’s how this situation would realistically resolve itself, and it feels completely earned given everything we’ve seen.

It’s simply amazing how much this film rebounded in my eyes. After such a wonky start, it managed to become not only a wonderfully charming musical, but a really touching and authentic look at creative relationships. There are so many moments peppered throughout that are just masterclasses in directing and acting, and the screenplay is up to the task, keeping it’s characters and the audience on their toes. If you want to see a musical this summer, don’t settle for Jersey Boys just because it’s closer. Drive that extra 20 minutes to see a film that will make you fall in love with the idea of the musical all over again.

Rating: A-