La La Land — Page 2

I think a lot of the movie’s bad reputation comes from how overhyped it was in the awards circuit. It’s a slight story with a small scope, despite having elements of big, splashy movie musicals of yore (mostly in the first half hour and the final 10 or so minutes). I enjoy it for what it is, but many of its elements leave a bad taste in the mouth (the White Savior complex, the lack of faith in the initial musical framing, its posturing as a re-evaluation of the movie musical, etc.), so I can see why it’s being met with skepticism.

That being said, there’s no reason to believe much of that won’t be fixed in its translation to the stage - including casting genuine triple threats in the leads and writing some more songs. Plus, I think that score will sound pretty damn thrilling live. The whole finale sequence is one of my all-time favorite movie moments.

ErmengardeStopSniveling said: "One of the "criticisms" of the film was that it took a very white perspective on jazz...so it'll be interesting to see if that remains the same, or if the character's race is changed for the stage adaptation.

This was probably my biggest gripe with the movie. The film spins a very white savior-y narrative when it comes to jazz music, placing Ryan Gosling's character as someone who's trying to 'save' jazz music in Los Angeles. The scene where he explains jazz to John Legend's character (who's a jazz fusion musician) and basically calls Legend a sell-out is particularly galling, considering that jazz was created by black people.

Aside from that, I was underwhelmed by the film after the opening number, so will take a pass on this if it ever reaches fruition.

Updated On: 2/8/23 at 10:50 AM

To me, the racial elements are entirely intentional. Gosling isn’t a racist, he’s just a myopic hipster whose blinkers are fixed on French New Wave aesthetics and a specific moment in Eurocentric jazz history. He’s gifted, he’s a genius, but he’s also a relic. And so he’s unable to see that jazz has moved on and grown beyond Michel Legrand.

Dull dull movie, except the first number. I'll be fine if it's in development land for a long time