2016 - LA LA LAND, a movie for people who haven't seen a musical

Well I have to give the director/writer Damien Chazelle some credit.  It takes some guts to film a live action musical in today's entertainment market.  Musicals only seem to exist in the movies if they are animated with lots of cartoon figures singing, singing, singing.   

Chazelle says that he was inspired by Demy's Umbrellas of Cherborough and boy was he ever. The ghost of that film hangs heavily over this one..  Chazelle strives for that magical quality Demy brought to that film but unfortunately it just seems beyond his grasp the story just didn't move me emotionally.

I think the chief problem here is that neither one of the leads are professional singers or dancers.  Sure they give it the old college try but they can't dance and Emma Stone just can't sing.  Ryan Gosling has a pretty thin voice but he seems to be able to pull off the singing part (barely.)

Chazelle wants to modernize the musical.  To this end he adds a downbeat ending to the film and then a fantasy ending sequence.  I just don't think this  comes off it just makes a long film even longer.    He just doesn't have the style and talent that Demy brought to the musical genre when Demy rethought and revised it in The Umbrellas of Cherborough.

128 minutes written by Damien Chazelle.