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

The Rewrite - review

For a movie about screenwriting and teaching its rules and conventions, The Rewrite is so cliched and conventional that it desperately needed a few rewrites of its own to help it break away and stand out from of the dozens of Hugh Grant starring rom-coms already out there.

Indeed it could be seen as a reflection of Grant's own career.

A man striving to recapture the highs of the beginning of his career (Four Weddings And Funeral) but finds that an unexpected career change (fighting the tabloids) brings him the peace and happiness he has been searching for.

Recently his film roles have been few and far between, seeming like Grant had almost given up and at the beginning of the film he appears to be sleepwalking through the first act as he reproduces his About A Boy-schtick; behaving like a petulant child, sleeping with young women and doing as little as possible to coast through life but once he has his Dead Poet's Society moment of inspiration, Grant threatens to look like he might be enjoying himself on screen again.

Grant's Keith Michaels at one point claims screenwriting can't be taught and its certainly true with The Rewrite as anyone who has ever watched a movie could write the ending to this movie after reading a 30 page draft which takes its star for Granted,

2 stars

Maps To The Stars - review

In 2001, David Lynch took his pilot for a failed TV series set in Hollywood and turned it into the five star masterpiece Mulholland Drive.

This year, another director called David visits Hollywood and the result is a nightmare worse than the one that befalls Diane Selwyn.

Maps To The Stars is a complete and utter mess that, unlike Mulholland Drive feels like a rambling TV pilot full of subplots which go nowhere, characters that disappear without any resolution and Julianne Moore doing her very best Lindsay Lohan impression.

And like Lohan, it is vapid, shallow and a complete waste of talent. This Map To a the Stars ends in a review that gets only one.

1 star

The Artist - review

There's an old saying in Hollywood, that they "don't make 'em like that anymore".  Thankfully it seems that they do.  It's name is The Artist and it is absolutely glorious.

I was initially taken aback but upon reflection, in a year where audiences have been inundated with sequels, prequels and the diminishing returns of 3D, it turns out to be no surprise that the best film of 2011 is a black and white, silent film celebrating a bygone era of Hollywood.
Just like one of my other favourite films of this year, Midnight In Paris, it is a nostalgic look at the "Golden Age" of the twenties.  The Artist blends together elements of Singin' In The Rain, A Star Is Born and Sunset Boulevard to tell the story of George Valentin (Jean Dujardin), one of the biggest stars of silent movies who loses everything (wife, house, fortune) when he refuses to participate in the 'gimmicky fad' that is the talking picture, instead forced to watch the meteoric rise of his one-time protege and true love Peppy Miller (Berenice Bejo).
It has been filmed as a 1920's silent film (shot in 1:33 ratio, black and white, dialogue cards, iris fades and wipes) but where some directors might have gone for the old grainy celluloid look, it was wisely filmed in digital producing one of the best looking black and white movies ever, matched in beauty by a sumptuous musical score by Ludovic Bource which helps to narrate the story and strengthen the emotional beats (just as the live musical accompianment would have done in cinemas during the performance).
Michel Hazanvicius has crafted a loving tribute to the silent era but is not afraid of defying conventions resulting in one of the most startling and memorable scenes of the year.  It is an absolute delight and involves a glass and a table.  It doesn't sound like much but trust me, it is.
There is always a danger that this type of project could fall into the realms of spoof or pastiche but the performances of the central duo Dujardin and Bejo prevent that, providing the film with a generous abundance of heart.

Dujardin pitches his performance just right.  He never resorts to the "shameless mugging" that silent stars were accussed of, instead finding the right balance of old school movie star charisma that slowly crumbles away to reveal the sad, broken man inside, able to switch between comedy and tragedy with ease.  One of his most delightful moments is when he "gets into character" before filming.
Bejo I imagine, like her character Peppy in the film, is destined for great things in Hollywood.  She radiates star quality and lights up the screen whenever she appears.
Together they have a tangible winning chemistry that is in abundance during the scene where they are filming for the first time.  You can see the connection and attraction between them growing, take after take.
What I loved most about The Artist is that whilst it is an homage to the silent movie, it is also a celebration of the power of cinema and it took me on a nostalgic trip down memory lane as to why I fell in love with movies in the first place.

A tap dance reminds me of Gene Kelly, a staircase featured in Blade Runner, a breakfast montage reminiscent of Citizen Kane, Valentin's outfit during a swordfight reminds me of Inigo Montoya from The Princess Bride and the use of Bernard Herrmann's Scene D'Amour stirs up thoughts of Hitchcock and Vertigo.
Normally this kind of thing can be distracting.  I for one love a good Wilhelm Scream but when it pops up in a film, I am taken out of it for a moment and remember that I'm watching a film. 
But with The Artist it is a movie about the movies, a celebration of a medium that can captivate audiences, take them on an emotional rollercoaster, transport them from the dullness of their everyday lives and take them on a magical journey, albeit just for a couple of hours.
And if The Artist wants to wishes to take me on this journey many, many times over the next few years then all I can say is... "With Pleasure".

5 stars