During the Oscar campaign for Whiplash (2014) I was able to meet its breakthrough writer/director Damien Chazelle a few times and he even dropped hints to me about his plans for La La Land. I couldn't believe my ears that we would get a real musical from him. Given that both of his first two films centered around musicians, it shouldn't have been such a surprise.
Here we are nearly two years later with the first teaser trailer and what sounds like a surefire Best Original Song nominee in "City of Stars" (now available to download) have emerged and we're already yes yes gimme.
The film's synopsis (which we hope is just an excuse to hang swoony scenes and musical numbers on) goes like so:
Jazz musican Sebastian and his girlfriend, aspiring actress Mia, struggle to cope with the pressures of trying to make it big in Hollywood.
Let's talk about the teaser after the jump, breaking it down with our Yes No Maybe So system.
YES
• Can I say everything? That's what I want to say
• The song is beautiful
• This is the third picture Gosling & Stone have made together (after Crazy Stupid Love and Gangster Squad). The Film Experience proudly endorses actor pairs extending through multiple pictures. It's too infrequent but it used to result in timeless classics because chemistry goes so far in making any given movie a rich experience. When actors have it (as these two do) it's horrifying when they waste it. I'd list examples of the waste but it would be too long and depressing. Let's just say actors and their management teams are no longer the least bit saavy about this. When you've got it, FLAUNT IT.
• Ryan Gosling's whistling, which takes us in and out of the images here, is as dreamy as the man himself
• It looks so beautiful and colorful and dreamy. The movies need beauty and color in the worst way right about now (as we've been saying frequently with all the muddy color-drained palettes destroying our spirits)
• Already wildly excited to see what the editor (Oscar winner Tom Cross, Whiplash), costume designer (Mary Zophres, the Coen bros filmography), production designer (David Wasco, Royal Tenenbaums & Kill Bill), and cinematographer (Linus Sandgren, Joy) have in store for us, aren't you?
NO
• Is there a downside to any of this? Not at first glance. But too dampen expectations let's note that when Emma Stone appeared in that music video a year back her dancing was awfully sloppy. Like edit around her Renée Zellweger in Chicago sloppy dancing
• The shout out to Moulin Rouge! / One From the Heart with the dancing into the sky indicates a love of artifice and theatricality which is HUGELY appealing to us but which general audiences and some critics have been known to turn on with a vengeance. (We don't relish a huge round of musical hating though that has nothing to do with the quality of this film, whatever that may be. Just a errant unpleasant thought.)
MAYBE SO
• Will this romance be only from Ryan Gosling's perspective? Romantic dramas work best when they feel balanced. Whiplash did not install confidence that Chazelle is interested in writing female characters but maybe it was just that particular story? We'll have to wait and see.
• How much music will there be in a film? Will all the music be fantasy sequences like musicals that are sometimes embarrassed to be musicals because that would make us cry copious technicolor blue tears.
The Trailer in question
Yes No or Maybe So?
Let us know your decision however small or overwhelming in the comments.