By Brett Blake With 2014’s WHIPLASH, writer/director Damien Chazelle announced himself as a gifted filmmaker on the rise. With LA LA LAND, he firmly establishes himself as one of the strongest young artists working in cinema, one with a authorial voice and a command of technique. LA LA LAND is a wonderful, gloriously old-fashioned experience, and it fires on all cylinders with nary a false step taken anywhere along the way. It’s a relatively simple tale: Mia (Emma Stone) is a struggling actress looking for her big break in Hollywood. Sebastian (Ryan Gosling) is a frustrated jazz pianist fighting to keep classic jazz relevant. Mia and Sebastian’s paths cross a few times, and before they know it, they’re romantically linked; we follow their separate and shared struggles as they seek out their dreams, accompanied by wonderful musical numbers that jump right off the screen. There’s no way I could possibly hide this, so I had better get it out right here: LA LA LAND is a movie that affected me in a deep, emotional way. Setting aside the craft of the filmmaking (which I’ll eventually get to), this wistful story about pursuing dreams is potent and moving, and its longing, almost bittersweet edge should resonate with anybody struggling to figure out what they’re doing with their life, or questioning if they’ve made the right decisions with respect to going after what their hearts really want. As one of the lyrics of the movie’s most powerful song says, “Here’s to the ones who dream,” and the entire film itself feels like an ode to perseverance and the classically romantic ideals of being true to oneself in the face of adversity. It’s an enormously optimistic movie (though tinged with some melancholy), and one that feels almost as if writer/director Damien Chazelle is speaking individually to members of the audience and saying, “Keep going after the things you want to achieve. It’s worth trying.” Though there are a handful of supporting characters, the movie lives and dies on the shoulders of its two protagonists. Luckily, Gosling and Stone are more than up to that task. Gosling brings a wonderfully understated (almost dry) sense of humor to his role, coupled with a genuine passion for jazz which motivates him at every tun. He also appears to do his own piano playing, which - considering the intricate nature of the music - is no small achievement. It is Stone, though, who is the true revelation of the movie; her performance here is the best of her career thus far, a luminous, vibrant turn powered by equal parts determination to succeed and insecurity over her real worth as an aspiring actress. Stone’s been on the edge of the so-called “A List” for a while, now, but her work here should surely push her over the top. It’s perhaps my favorite performance of the year. I’ve seen some describe the movie as a “love letter” to Los Angeles, but I’m not sure I really agree with that. The film is quite clear-eyed about the complexities and downsides that the city has to offer those who go there to pursue their creative endeavors. Though the city itself is photographed in a stunning, sometimes dreamlike way, this actually serves to underline the more honest realities the narrative presents about its locale. Chazelle’s story, fundamentally, is not a fantasy, even as it includes fantastical elements. What the film very definitely displays is director Chazelle’s range as a filmmaker. The bluster and ferocious intensity of his previous film, WHIPLASH, are replaced here by sensitivity and exuberance, but the energy is pitched at just as high a level as it was in WHIPLASH. This is a movie riding high on the love of cinema and music, and on the power of those two art forms when fused together. It’s unabashedly, unashamedly old-fashioned in the way it approaches its musical elements; this is a movie that is in-your-face with its big song and dance numbers. LA LA LAND is no reinvention of the genre, no meta commentary. It very much takes its cue from classic musicals and transplants that into 2016. The result is a spectacular entertainment of the sort we don’t really get much anymore. The songs, courtesy of composer Justin Hurwitz and lyricists Benj Pasek & Justin Paul, are infused with jazz sensibilities that wouldn’t feel too out-of-place in one of the brighter musicals of yesteryear, and the dance sequences are totally old-school in choreography, but are captured through Chazelle’s dynamic (and impeccable) camerawork. Some of the numbers appear to unfold in long, unbroken shots, something that often has a dazzling effect when you realize how long shots have played out without cuts. Acting as both a glorious homage to classic cinema and an incredibly vital, energetic modern work, LA LA LAND is simply a powerhouse. It didn’t give me exactly what I wanted or expected... it gave me more, and it’s one of the very best films of 2016. I can’t wait to see it again.
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By Brett Blake ROGUE ONE: A STAR WARS STORY acts as the first spinoff from the primary “Episodic” STAR WARS saga. In that sense, this film is an experiment, a gamble. It’s a stylistic departure from any other STAR WARS film we’ve seen so far, and yet... it feels right at home in that galaxy. This is the movie that puts the “Wars” in the phrase “Star Wars.” It is a hugely entertaining ride, one with some darker edges, and it beautifully returns us to the headspace and look of 1977’s original STAR WARS film. Since anything regarding STAR WARS is subject to concern about spoilers, I shall lean on the studio’s official synopsis of this film to set the tone: The Rebellion makes a risky move to steal the plans for the Death Star, setting up the epic saga to follow. From that, one can correctly glean that ROGUE ONE takes place immediately - perhaps a only a week - before the original movie, and it essentially tells the tale imparted to audiences in that movie’s opening crawl text. We follow a band of Rebels - Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones), Cassian Andor (Diego Luna), Chirrut Imwe (Donnie Yen), Baze Malbus (Wen Jiang), Bodhi Rook (Riz Ahmed), and K-2SO (Alan Tudyk) - on a mission that eventually leads them to the plans for the Empire’s ultimate weapon. Aligned opposite them is Orson Krennic (Ben Mendelsohn), director of the Death Star’s operations and a nakedly ambitious careerist looking to earn the favor of his Empire superiors at any cost. There are also a few additional surprise guest stars that shall remain surprises here, as well as the presence of the most iconic character in STAR WARS history... Darth Vader (again voiced by James Earl Jones). In many ways, but particularly structurally and narratively, ROGUE ONE feels a bit like a throwback to World War II "men (and women) on a mission" movies. There’s colorful collection of characters with a clear objective who have to navigate intrigue and danger to pull that objective off. Informants are compromised, compounds are infiltrated, and sacrifice is a possibility at every turn. The story also brings a level of complexity (shades of grey) that some might not expect. The Rebels are not simply painted as the ultimate paragons of virtue. They have to make some tough, dark calls, and this is refreshing in a franchise that is now controlled by the family-friendly Disney company. It might be tempting to call this the most grim STAR WARS film, and in many regards its frankness with respect to death and war could make that case, but that would ignore the fact that ROGUE ONE is also terrifically funny at times, mostly courtesy of K-2SO, who almost steals the entire movie. The performances en masse are engaging throughout, and each actor hits all of the right notes to pull off the tonal balance required by this more war-based story. One of the things director Gareth Edwards proved with his last film, 2014’s GODZILLA, is that he understands scale. He knows how to frame things, what perspectives to use, in order to awe an audience with size and scope within a given shot. He brings that in full force to ROGUE ONE, particularly in the way he handles the Empire’s fleet and Death Star itself. It was clearly an imposing icon back in 1977’s STAR WARS, but the modern effects tools Edwards has at his disposal allows him to do things with the Death Star that could never have been pulled off before. There’s a level of detail and creativity to nearly every shot featuring it, and there is imagery in this movie that is often downright stunning. Star Destroyers - themselves massive ships - rendered tiny in relation to the Death Star. A sun totally eclipsed by the gigantic shape in the sky. These are iconic bits of cinematic photography, and if ROGUE ONE has nothing else to offer, it serves up shots upon shots that are, themselves, mini artistic achievements. The production design is particularly impressive all the way through. Given that this film takes place literally right before the events of the original STAR WARS, the overall look of the movie takes several cues from the look of that film. In fact, several locations featured there are directly replicated here, and to great effect. But more than simply recycling things we’ve already seen, the design team behind ROGUE ONE have created new visions for us to experience that feel fresh and yet still of-a-piece with the visual look of the original movie. The same can be said for the costume design, which faithfully recreates classic looks and brings new ideas to the table to fit right alongside those. ROGUE ONE is far and away the best action movie of 2016 in terms of visceral excitement. The airport fight from CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR is probably still the best singular sequence of the year, but the totality - and variety - of the action in ROGUE ONE is absolutely thrilling. There is a legitimately fantastic space battle in here that feels like we (finally) have a true heir to the incredible climactic battle of RETURN OF THE JEDI. For a series called “Star Wars,” there have actually been relatively few space-set action sequences, but ROGUE ONE makes up for that. But really, the entire last act - roughly the final 30+ minutes, encompassing the space battle, a land siege, and an undercover infiltration - is absolutely stellar. Rousing, wrenching, and exhilarating, this finale has an intensity and urgency that is incredibly effective. Director Edwards stages all action with a clear eye, isn’t afraid to hold on shots, and keeps the audience able to follow the various threads that are being woven together. I wouldn’t say that ROGUE ONE is (overall) as good a movie as any of the original trilogy, but I’m very comfortable saying that it has the best and most satisfying finale since THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK. Michael Giacchino’s score is sure to be one of the more polarizing elements of the film. Written under extremely difficult and compressed circumstances (Giacchino was brought onto the project after fellow composer Alexandre Desplat dropped out of scoring duties very late in the game because of supposed “scheduling conflicts,” leaving Giacchino a mere four weeks to compose and record approximately two hours worth of full orchestral score), the result is an admirably solid effort. Giacchino implements some classic Williams themes where appropriate, but doesn’t let them dominate things, instead choosing to focus on several new themes of his own creation. This may irritate some people because the results don’t always sound traditionally STAR WARSy, but it accompanies the movie quite effectively. It’s not a perfect film by any means (the middle section of the movie bogs down a little bit, for example, and there are some moments of semi-questionable CGI used for one particular character that may be tough for some to overlook), but taken as a whole, ROGUE ONE feels both unique and familiar, a marriage of the best of both worlds. We are drawn back into the classic STAR WARS flavor, but are given new sights to see that are exciting in their own right. If ROGUE ONE is indicative of how Disney plans to handle future STAR WARS spinoffs, we’re in for a real treat. |
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