La La Land (2016)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2016
	Director: Damien Chazelle
	Actors: Ryan Gosling, Emma Stone
	Country: USA
	Genre: Music, Romance
	Conditions of visioning: 19.01.2017, Schauburg, English version with German subtitle
Synopsis: Mia (Stone), an aspiring actress, serves lattes to movie stars in between auditions and Sebastian (Gosling), a jazz musician, scrapes by playing cocktail party gigs in salsa-tapas bars. As they meet and soon come together, they worked hard to let grow their dreams in each other. At some point of their career they have to choose between their personal dream and their love.
Review: From the Whiplash sort story and feature movie Whiplash, Damien Chazelle keeps the image of the jazzman in La La Land. The mutual support to follow one's dreams builds the beautiful romance. But even in this romance there are many ordinary moments. As soon as the loved one is not following the crescendo of one dream they decide to follow their dreams and they split. A part of the movie seems to by the wished scene of one of the characters. It is a mix of genre that sometimes looks like there is no direction. In order not to mix "personal dreams" story with usual "artist life" story, I would have preferred to keep one artistic dream and have another dream.  Unlike other movies (Drive, Only God Forgives), I liked the acting of Ryan Gosling. And Emma Stone is great and beautiful. The acting like the roles are both slightly exaggerated so that the acting looks like a comedy of the 60s à la Jacques Demy (Les parapluies de Cherbourg). The image and clothes have somehow a style of the 50s. But the nostalgia of old jazz clubs, the use of cell phones are very modern. This mix does not disturb at all.I liked the visual mix of these styles. But I did not get catch by the story. The scenes of the first met in the club are both great, really strong. But the rest did not get me.  The music theme is quite good and often used. But it is not the catchy tune of Jacques Demy's movies.
Rating: 5 /10