I honestly had not heard about this movie until yesterday but decided to see it with my family on a whim, and boy, am I glad I did.
La La Land is a musical about an aspiring actress and a jazz pianist who both are trying to find their place in Los Angeles, California. The obvious storyline here is that they fall in love and have a couple jazzy musical numbers, but (without giving spoilers) I was pleasently surprised with it's unpredictable ending. Moving away from the plot, the movie in itself is gorgeous. Walking in, I was not expecting how impressed I would be with the film as a whole. The music was incredible on all fronts: beautifully writted and executed (who knew Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling can sing??). The musical aspect of the film was also very surprising: the numbers were well woven throughout the plot, it never felt like the characters were just randomly singing and dancing, and each song added a lot to the film. I really enjoyed it. The story was interestingly set in present time (revealed by the types of cars, iphones, and ipads shown throughout) but held a strong 1920s vibe in many different aspects (clothing, lighting, housing). This mesh of the present and the 20s is what makes the film so genious: the 20s is nicknamed The Jazz Age because that is when it actually became popular in America. La La Land did not only use this contrast of time periods to make the cinematography more interesting, but also to bring out certain themes in the movie (I'll let you watch it and figure them out). Finally, the lighting in this movie was used in a very unique way: contrasting neon, pastel, and dark colors in different scenes to highlight what was going on- be it one person singing or a crowd dancing in a club. While lighting is usually used to set a scene's ambiance in movies, La La Land used it very obviously, but in the least tacky way possible. The film was not a cliche, silly musical at all. In my opinion it was beautifully depicted, well made, and highly entertaining. Go watch it!
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I am still here! Believe it or not I am working on my project though I have not posted in a while. Today I went on a starbucks date with my sister to have some quiet time to write and edit my intro video! YES! This video will be released on January 1st and my project will finally get rolling with the new year.
In other news, I bought Final Cut Pro X this weekend and am excited to fully explore it while editing the coming videos. Stay tuned! |