"La La Land" shows the performer's entire unmodified body singing and dancing in a limited space. Its excitement comes from breathtaking long-take techniques and non-stop editing, and its meaning comes from cinematic language as well as music and dance.
The opening scene is the most complex and remarkable mise-en-scène of the year: five minutes of non-stop singing and twirling on a traffic-jammed freeway in Los Angeles, with almost all the dancing shot of the performers from head to toe. , just like Astaire's popular performance in his movies. When Gosling leaps from the bench and tap dances, the camera tilts boldly to keep him in full frame. The moment is breathtakingly beautiful, not just the dance steps, but the camera movement has a rhythm of its own.
The fast-moving camerawork conveys a jumping heart with more authenticity and joy than a close-up flash cut of a face or legs. This scene, set against the backdrop of a "magic hour" sunset, suggests an unfiltered authenticity; it is not a fake scene in a postmodern film that must be captured in a single shot within a very short window of time, which in itself contains Superb craftsmanship.
It's also like a miracle that Damian trusts such a seemingly outdated cinematic method at such a young age (thirty years old). Few films in 2016 inspired such an outpouring of praise as "La La Land," with the likes of "It's a true musical more than any musical in the past two decades." Decades after dramatic cuts and close-ups of arms and legs in musicals have become customary, this approach seems revolutionary; which explains why many of La La Land's staunch supporters come from film critics and film historians, who embrace the film’s masterful formalism.
The production design of "La La Land" is almost impeccable: from the open-air neverland setting (like a whimsical self-portrait of Hollywood) to the bold lighting, from the low and melancholy to the extreme ecstasy of color, and style Customized clothing. However, Damian's intuition is not always impeccable: the scene where Sebastian and Mia dance at the Griffith Observatory is a bit magical realism when flying; the rotating mobile photography and photo wall (Instagram) Filtering color to create a sense of ecstasy also risks over-reliance on visual clichés.
There is a criticism leveled at La La Land's musical sequences: what's impressive is the visual treatment, what's less impressive is something so crucial to the genre - the songs. itself; a good musical should make people hum the songs, with powerful lyrics that hit or haunt the heart. The film attempts to maintain a balance between classic narrative tropes and contemporary survival in Los Angeles, thus establishing an unconventional context that marries independent cinema with charming old-fashioned formulas.
In some musicals, the songs are like the most staged parts, but Gosling plays a musician who provides the soundtrack, which is consistent with his daily life, which he and Mia are. Flirting, crying, laughing, carousing. Gosling and Stone's voices aren't perfect. Stone's voice is a bit plaintive, not the style of a performer in a Hollywood musical from the golden era, and this may be what offends fans of classic musicals. Not to mention the singing and dancing of big stars such as Judy Garland, Astaire, Rogers, and Gene Kelly, but also the singing and dancing of second-rate stars such as Jane Powell, Donald O'Connor, Betty Grable, and Cyd Charisse. The skills are incomparable to Stone and Gosling.
Thomas Schatz once analyzed the stars of classical Hollywood musicals in different periods: No one can be Astaire, he arouses more awe and wonder than empathy. On the contrary, Gene Kelly's songs and dances have a more empathetic effect on ordinary people. Where Astaire found harmony between personal energy and stylized form, Gene Kelly sought to discover a new form that would better unleash his energy.
Astaire seems to be confident in any situation, and his special talent encourages him to stay away from ordinary reality; while Gene Kelly wants to adjust social reality into his songs and dances, and his relationships with others Relationships are often intense and confusing.
The differences in their singing and dancing personalities are a function of age and history, but the cumulative effect of stardom makes it difficult to forget their star status.
However, Stone and Gosling, who are not so skilled in singing and dancing, are exactly the naturalism that director Damian is looking for. They only need to be able to sing and dance, and there is no need for technical perfection. Damien and the choreographer wanted their stars to look like real people rather than trained dancers. But an article by Holly Brubacher published in the New York Times discussed that Damian's method misses the point: Most classic musicals have almost no coherent plots, but films such as "Singin' in the Rain" and "Singin' in the Rain" "The Romance of Red Mansions" all showed talents in music, singing and dancing.
The inherent stylization of musicals allows the audience to effortlessly step into the dancing shoes of skilled performers and thereby identify with their emotions. There is a hint of elitism or anti-elitism in Damien's approach: a pair of actors who are likeable but not great dancers/singers, symbolizing an egalitarian progress in an egalitarian age.
In "La La Land", Gosling and Stone's performances were sincere and they both tried their best. Whether in the clichéd dialogue or in front of the artificial scenery, Stone is very real, and she won the Oscar for Best Actress for this film. Not being top-notch singers and dancers has become their indispensable attraction to a certain extent. If they were Astaire and Rogers, we might not feel as close to them.
Astaire and Rogers elevated ballroom dancing (waltz, foxtrot) to a ballet-like artistic level. Gosling and Stone danced ballroom dancing (waltz), but did not elevate it to an artistic level. to a higher level. The most emotional sequence in the film is Stone's audition and "City of Stars" duet, where flaws become part of the magic. There is a desire in the song: to wink at the chaos of real life and continue to maintain innocence and sincerity. They are like ourselves.
It is worth noting that Paris serves as a symbol in the film. When Mia received an invitation from the studio and was allowed to write a script independently, the story she told them was: it was her aunt who experienced the beauty of romance and art in Paris that inspired her acting dream, and she wanted to follow in her aunt's footsteps . In this way, a struggling actress in Los Angeles finally realized her dream in Paris; Los Angeles was a place of daydreams, and in the end they lived their own lives. At the end of the film, Mia and Sebastian fantasized In the dreamy ballet of living together, the background is the beautiful Paris street scene.
This city of romance and art? It is the dream city in this modern Hollywood musical, and it is the opposite of social Darwinism in the United States. The leftist philosopher Zizek will not miss this message: "Their love (which will make them successful) enters the story precisely to make the hundreds of people who will fail unseen in the background become So vague that it seems like their love (rather than sheer luck) makes them special and destined to succeed, and ruthless competition is the name of the game. The answer is: Does ruthless competition hinder love? Why aren't they together? ?i?ek begins with his usual Titanic conclusion: "The successful careers that separate the two protagonists are like the icebergs that hit the Titanic in Cameron's movie: they exist to save the dream of love (in dream played out in Final Fantasy).
In fact, if together, they would become a bitterly disappointed couple. The final version of the film is a reversal of this scenario: Mia and Seba. Stian goes to a nightclub to dream, and they imagine making opposite choices and romantically reflecting on their missed opportunities to live together? It's certainly not that they simply decided to put their careers before their love. They did it because of love. Having achieved success in their respective careers and realized their dreams, their love is not an obstacle to success, on the contrary, it 'mediates' success.
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So, does this movie subvert the Hollywood formula for producing couples? "They both realize the dream, but not as a couple? "Or is this a form of postmodern narcissism?" Preferring personal achievement over love? ?i?ek proposed the mystery of Final Fantasy: "The whole dream focuses on her destiny to go to Paris to make a movie."