La La Land
by Nicholas Barber
La La Land recently made history at the Golden Globes by being the first film to win seven trophies, so its no surprise that Damien Chazelles twinkly Los Angeles musical has had more than its fair share of Oscar nominations, too. With nods in just about every conceivable category, including not one but two for best original song, it has a total of 14 nominations, thus matching the record held by All About Eve and Titanic.
Inevitably, a backlash is already well underway, not just because some people havent gone gaga for La La Land, but because they consider it thin and flimsy enough to float off into the air, as its characters do when they visit the Griffith Observatory.
Next to Moonlight, Hidden Figures and Fences, all of which are best picture nominees, La La Land doesnt look too progressive. But that doesnt mean that it is a cowardly or obvious choice for Oscar voters. The very fact that it doesnt have an overt political message, but is still good enough to beguile awards bodies, is what makes La La Land so unusual.
This years nominees are an impressively diverse bunch, with a lot more indie curios than there used to be in the line-up. But what hasnt changed is that the Academy is still pulled in by the gravity of weighty dramas about serious issues. Best picture winners typically deal with the horrors of child abuse (Spotlight), slavery (12 Years a Slave), war (The Hurt Locker) and poverty (Slumdog Millionaire). Even Birdman and The Artist, the most showbizzy modern winners, plunged their heroes into valleys of depression and alienation. In comparison, the healthy, attractive, gifted young dreamers in La La Land dont have much to complain about. But thats why the film is so remarkable and even radical in terms of its award-season success. At heart it is a romantic comedy - and romantic comedies are hardly Oscar bait. The last one to win a best picture prize was Annie Hall in 1978.
Co-incidentally, Gosling must take some of the blame. Ever since he stole a zillion hearts in The Notebook in 2004, the standard film about star-crossed lovers has been a soggy adaptation of a Nicholas Sparks novel, featuring at least one cancer patient. Directors who want some comedy with their romance, meanwhile, have tended to follow the lead of the Farrelly Brothers, who equate love with physical pain and public humiliation, and Judd Apatow, who sees courtship as something to be squeezed between sessions of sweary bromantic bonding. Try to think of a recent boy-meets-girl comedy, which has been uplifting and un-ironic, without also being nauseating, and youll appreciate how special La La Land is.
In the dance of attraction and flirtation that comprises the films first half, it doesnt put a foot wrong. Chazelle introduces Mia (Emma Stone), an aspiring actress, and Seb (Ryan Gosling), a jazz pianist, when they exchange hostile glares in the opening traffic jam. A while later, Mia is enchanted by Sebs ivory-tinkling in a restaurant, but he is so upset about being fired that he barges past her and disappears into the street. Chazelle uses the films first act to establish Mia and Sebs individual careers and passions. When they finally get around to having a conversation, the audience is primed and ready for them to fall in love. And even then, the pacing has a relaxed, breezy confidence.
There is the delicious scene in which Mia taunts Seb at a pool party as he plays in an 80s cover band, her sarcastic enthusiasm echoed satisfyingly when she dances to his jazz improvisation later on. There is the twilit drift back to their cars after the party, the getting-to-know-you stroll through a Hollywood backlot, the cinema date Mia almost misses, and, at last, the Griffith Observatory nocturne. The old-fashioned relationship in La La Land does feel effortless.
The sheer likeability and easy compatibility of Stone and Gosling, who had already starred opposite each other in Gangster Squad and Crazy, Stupid, Love. The key to their chemistry - apart from their industrial quantities of charm - is their sharply contrasting acting styles. Stones emotions pour out of her. Whether Mia is angry or elated, her feelings are written all over her face, and not just on those massive eyes. Gosling, one of Hollywoods most magnetic under players, prefers to restrict himself to a smirk or a raised eyebrow, and its this imbalance that has the viewer desperate for Seb to be as open and generous as Mia is.
There is more to La La Land than the way the actors and the characters connect, of course. It got those 14 Oscar nominations for its flowing camerawork, the Pop Art brightness of its costumes and production design, and the toe-tapping songs by Justin Hurwitz. But its the magic in that buoyant first hour that makes it worthy of the awards it has been and will be given: the magic of an exquisitely constructed comedy about two people who make beautiful music together.
Source: BBC Culture
