La La Land - Review

"City of Stars, are you shining just for me? City of Stars, you never shined so brightly"

The bright lights of Hollywood draw in and seduce many a dreamer, like moths to a flame, but do their dreams come true and end up with their name in lights or do they go down in flames?

Films set in the City of Stars can go either way. The Neon Demon and Mulholland Drive show the dark side of what can happen to innocent souls in pursuit of fame and fortune but La La Land, from the outset anyway with a glorious opening number Another Day Of Sun set in a traffic jam, certainly feels like it is full of rays of sunshine, hope and optimism.

This is the L.A. from the movies where anything is possible if you believe you can make it.

Of course, we've all know that isn't strictly true and our main characters Mia, a barista and aspiring actress, and Seb, a jazz pianist who wants to open his own club, both have their own dreams and the film follows them as they face obstacles to their goals and the prospect that what they have been seeking all this time might not be success but actually each other.

If Hollywood still operates under the Studio System, Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone would be permanently paired together for the rest of time. The chemistry that was first showcased in Crazy, Stupid Love is off the charts here and is one of the major reasons that the film works so well.

Another reason it works is that it is not beholden to the pitfalls of a stage-to-screen adaptation. Sometimes musicals when they transfer from stage to screen (Chicago, The Producers) struggle to escape the feeling that you are just watching a show. La La Land follows in the footsteps of modern musicals such as Moulin Rouge, South Park: Bigger, Longer Uncut (yes, it is a musical and a damn good one at that!) and has a natural ebb and flow as it follows the central relationship through the seasons.

There were sequences in the film that caused a smile to break out across my face from ear to ear and fill me with a joy I haven't felt in a cinema screen since the final tap dance number in The Artist. And like that film, expect to hear "And the Oscar goes to... for La La Land" quite a lot as Hollywood loves nothing more than a film that celebrates the industry.

There are references to an entire library of cinematic classics; including Singin' In The Rain, Vertigo, Rebel Without A Cause and Casablanca. Like these films, La La Land remembers that the purpose of cinema is to provide an escape from everyday life, to transport you to another place and time and it certainly does that.

City Of Stars might be gaining all the attention but it was the song Audition (The Fools Who Dream), which reminds me of The Rainbow Connection, I was transported back to Studio 54 watching Emma Stone perform in Cabaret, where she first proved that she could hold a tune. Gosling equips himself well too and while not quite Fred and Ginger, they are the modern day Fred and a Ginger.

To quote an internet meme, find someone who looks at you the way critics look at Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone look at each other on screen.

5 stars

Whiplash - review

Back at school, we all had that one teacher that took a particular shine to us (not in that way) and encouraged us to be better and achieve our goals, and in Whiplash a promising young drummer finds that person in the form of music professor Fletcher, played by J.K. Simmons.

But be warned, this is no Dead Poets Society. There is no "Carpe Diem" or "Oh Captain my captain" to be found here.

Simmons is a shoe in for an Oscar nomination as the tyrannical teacher who terrorises his students both physically, emotionally and verbally in order to force them to fulfill their potential and elevate his band. He spits out insults at a rapid tempo that are simultaneously obscene yet have a rhythmic musicality that build towards a combustible crescendo and he emerges as the most eloquent executioner of profanity since Peter Capaldi's Malcolm Tucker.

This film is what would have happened if R. Lee Emrey's drill sergeant from Full Metal Jacket had pursued a career in music instead of the armed forces.

Miles Teller (who performed all of his own drumming) is equally impressive as the ambitious student who is put through the proverbial wringer and following in the footsteps of other films which deal with performance and obsession (Birdman, The Wrestler, Black Swan), it is not certain whether or not there will be a happy outcome for Andrew.

At times it might seem like a horror or psychological thriller but at its heart, Whiplash is a love story... it's just that Andrew is confused as to what is his true love.

Is it Nicole, the cute girl at his local cinema? Is it the drums? Or in a case of a quote from Birdman, "you confuse love with admiration", is it actually Fletcher?

There is enough homoerotic insults and symbolism (or should that be "cymbalism") being thrown around to argue this point. Fletcher certainly seems to take a sado-masochistic pleasure in watching Andrew violently beating his four skins.

Damien Chazelle has written and directed an incredible film that simply crackles and fizzes with energy and passion, and this is nowhere more apparent than in the finale where the editing is exemplary as Andrew and Fletcher prepare for a final showdown.

So don't drag your heels. Rush out and catch this film that is destined to win BAFTAs, Oscars and all that jazz.

5 stars