La La Land: Here's To The Fools Who Dream

I watched La La Land a few nights ago, almost ten years after I first saw it in the movie theatre.

Here's my review from January 2017:

https://owlsquill.blogspot.com/2017/01/dancing-down-freeway-of-life-movie.html

I was prepared to feel that the ending was bittersweet.

SPOILER ALERT

When I first watched La La Land, I found myself wishing that Mia and Sebastian could have had a completely happy ending, as shown in the imaginary flashback/flashforward alternative ending. But they only got part of what they wanted, career success. They didn't end up with each other because their successes were based in distant locations.

Mia suggests to her French husband that they turn off the busy freeway to take The Road Less Travelled, a side street and they follow the sound of jazz into a club called Seb's. Inside they find Sebastian playing jazz with his group. He looks up after the song ends and spots Mia with another man. As he plays a new solo piece, there is a flashback to the happy times he shared with Mia five years ago, and extends the fantasy into the present day, where they are married and have their own family. But in the real present time they have found other spouses and have families.

Mia and her husband leave the club. But first Sebastian and Mia share a long silent look, smile faintly, and nod at each other.

This isn't sadness or regret.

It's gratitude.

They were not meant to be romantic partners forever. 

They were each other's muse, inspiring the other to continue to follow their true dream and not to settle for anything less. 

Here's to the fools who dream...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVVqlm8Fq3Y

Another Day of Sun, La La Land opening scene

Dancing Down the Freeway of Life (movie review)

Although I love California, I'm not a big fan of Los Angeles. La La Land, the new musical fantasy movie, reveals both the car-clogged side I'm familiar with and a surreal fantasy perspective that lives in the dreams of aspiring artists.

The opening song and dance on the freeway shows the duality of the city and the duality of one's view of life. Most of those people stuck in traffic are on their way to dull jobs such as Mia's (Emma Stone) barista one, but dream of doing something creative; in her case, acting in movies. She meets Sebastian (Ryan Gosling), an aspiring jazz musician reduced to playing Jingle Bells on the restaurant's piano.

La La Land is visually stunning. The director shows Los Angeles in her best possible light, all twinkling lights seen from hilltops, a lonely pier at sunset, or a conveniently empty planetarium. We hardly ever see the traffic and highways and road rage. We do see the rejection and frustration, the conflict between selling out and being true to your ideals.

Most of the songs are forgettable, except for "City of Stars" and the haunting "Audition," which made me cry, much to my husband's surprise. He found La La Land "two hours of nothing." He felt there was no plot.

Maybe you have to be a creative person in order to get this movie. Although it has delightful songs and dances, it isn't as fluffy as it seems. It really made me think.

Is life a daily grind where talent is ignored or rejected over and over?

Or is it a freewheeling dance down the freeway?

Leave your Darth Vader helmet at home

Last week I ordered two tickets online to see Star Wars: The Force Awakens on Wednesday. My tickets were emailed to me for me to print out.

On Tuesday, I received this email from the movie theatre:

"Fans are encouraged to enhance their Star Wars experience by wearing costumes at theatres across Canada, but props and toys that could become tripping hazards or impair vision in a theatre are best left at home. Guests are prohibited from wearing masks ..."

Owl pellets!

I was all set to wear my Darth Vader helmet, with the 3D glasses on top... ;-)

Screenwriting 102

A primer for students who passed Screenwriting 101

and are ready for additional basic information.


1.  Have a plot.

2. Special effects are awesome but they are not an acceptable way to distract the audience from the lack of a plot.

3. Two is the perfect number for dimensions in a movie.

4. Fast expository dialogue won't save your script if there are gaping plot holes.

5. Have a plot.





Love,

Barb

The Woman in Gold is Pure Gold

The Woman In Gold


Yesterday I saw the movie, The Woman in Gold.


It is based on a true story about Maria Altmann, who sues the Austrian government in the 90s to get back the Klimt portrait of her aunt which belonged to her family and was stolen by the Nazis.


Helen Mirren, as Maria, and Ryan Reynolds, as Randy Schoenberg, a young inexperienced lawyer, deliver dazzling performances. There are many flashbacks woven into the storyline. The brilliant last scene made me choke up.


Maria reminds me of a couple of my husband's relatives, both Holocaust survivors.


I highly recommend The Woman in Gold and predict it will win some Academy Awards next year. It is pure gold.