Author Information
La la Land (Chazelle)
The Land of Damien Chazelle is the subject of a marketing campaign rarely seen for months. Through posters, plenary nominations at the Oscars, critical press releases, this movie is sold to us as a major event of the seventh art. I see in this promotional deluge the same phenomenon as for the Artist in 2011. While the film by Michel Hazanavicius was a tribute to the great era of dumb, it celebrates another prestigious past, that of technicolor. He quotes Minelli (An American in Paris), Stanley Donen (Singing in the Rain) and Nicholas Ray (The Fury of Living). And when a director, no doubt clever, pays tribute to the glorious past of Hollywood, Hollywood loves it a lot!
The Land will disappoint because it is a beautiful film where we are sold an immortal masterpiece. His pleasant first half has essentially show value. The musical numbers set the scene. Damien Chazelle tells us: I am part of a tradition, that of the cinema of the golden age / I will talk about Los Angeles, city of dreams and illusions. It leads us in a series of musical numbers, brilliant for some (the opening sequence on the highway) or less successful (the party in the villa). And he meets two characters in search of success, Mia, an apprentice actress running the castings, and Sebastian, a pianist keen on jazz. To play this simple love story, the director capitalizes more on the charisma of Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling, only on the psychological thickness of their characters. She shows off her mischievous little fox face, he plays the disillusioned nonchalance very well. They cross each other and meet each other during fun sequences: in a party where he plays I ran (Flock of seagulls !!!), in a restaurant where he was fired by the manager played by JK "Whiplash" Simmons. Despite their setbacks, Chazelle retains a lightness of tone, a form of musical fidelity, far from the whining of a literary Woody Allen that could have brought closer, Emma Stone requires.
In its first two chapters, the film's main challenge is to pay tribute to a heritage and to show that it still counts. "In Hollywood, we worship everything but we do not keep anything," said Sebastian, who seems to speak for Damien Chazelle. We live on a prestigious past that we spend our time ignoring, he laments. In these conditions, can one realize one's dreams by not compromising oneself, keeping a link with Art? This is a question that Damien Chazelle asks himself, to which he answers La la Land: "Yes, I am the heir of a beautiful tradition. See what I can do with it. The film has everything from a prestigious business card to a successful entry to Hollywood. The camera flies and twirls, the colors are shimmering. The whole, finally quite sober, does not fall under its own means.
Fortunately, the film is not limited to the demonstration of his director's address. From the chapter "autumn" is added a dissonant music, that of disappointment and bitterness. Mia and Sebastian dream together but do not succeed together. If everyone encourages the other by promising to remain honest, the first sign of compromise is a stab at feelings. Obligations, career above all, end up killing love. It is from this observation that free movie streaming takes a flight melancholy enough powerful. The sad melody on the piano played by Sebastian and who introduced their meeting is that of a failure announced. He can always replay the score, summon the sumptuous decorations of An American in Paris, the Paris of yesteryear of the Caveau de la Huchette, for a last dance together, the notes describe a dreamed love that they have not managed to preserve.
Sad observation in the shape of dreams: in Los Angeles, we can succeed but we can not love each other....
