Review of 'La La Land'

Everybody has been so down on this that I was quite surprised by how much it touched me. I think sometimes how a film affects the viewer says more about the latter than the former. Set in Hollywood, this was about staying true to your dreams, and what happens when you do/don't. It plays around with narrative quite a lot - we get to see a fantasy of an alternative ending, which I think is a way of reminding us that the narrative of the film itself is not necessarily to be taken at face value. The too-bright colours in the opening sequence, and the early scenes with the girls in the flat, seem to me to be indicating that this is more or less fantasy. It rather reminded me of 'Mullholland Drive' without the horror, and perhaps 'The Day of the Locust' too.

It's a film about dreams, but maybe the characters don't stay true to their dreams, and maybe it isn't so important to do that. I think that's the thing that chimed with me at this moment - what if I was able to pursue my own dreams? Is it really what I want to do, or just a thought to distract me from what I am doing at the moment?

Seb (Ryan Gosling's character) has a dream of having his own Jazz club that will be really true to the spirit of the music, but he seems to abandon the dream for a steady job playing in a band that gets recording and touring contracts. It isn't his dream...but maybe the dream is just something you need to help you get through the drudgery of everyday life (earlier, he's a jobbing musician playing stuff that he really despises). And Emily Stone's character almost gives up on her dream of being an actor, and it's only his persistence in dragging her back to one more audition that makes it come true.

I note in passing that the music isn't great, but it's not awful either - I can still remember at least some of the tunes.

Watched on a tablet on train.