La La Land : The Problem with 'La La Land'

I don't consider myself a film expert by any means, but I am so unbelievably frustrated with the award recognition and Oscar buzz that this movie is receiving (yes, I'm one of those people who thinks the Oscars are still worth a damn) that I have to say something. La La Land is visually beautiful, has great music, and is one of the most romantic movies I've ever seen, but it is devoid of a fundamental part of storytelling: character development. I didn't really care much about what happened to the characters in the end because I knew basically nothing about them except for their career ambitions. La La Land is the shell of what could have been a great movie, but ultimately had little substance. I don't know if critics are still in awe of Damien Chazelle over Whiplash (I've never seen it) or what, but the amount of praise this movie is so overinflated that I can't begin to understand it.

Although I disagree with your conclusion I can understand your thinking. I don't believe character development is as crucial or necessary in musicals because a large percentage of the film issinging, not dialog. I was happy LaLa Land contained so many lines and didn't break into song every frame. I think I got a feeling for who the two main characters were but I hear your criticism. The movie was over 2 hours long I don't know how he could've stretched it much longer.

Whiplash was my favorite film of 2014. If you enjoy the cinema yoi should give it a watch. The ending is one of the best.

Whiplash was one of my favorites of 2014 also.







Schrodinger's cat walks into a bar and doesn't.

The music is terrible though

The music is mediocre at best.





Schrodinger's cat walks into a bar and doesn't.

Not on my watch and many others

If you're interested in the director you should see Whiplash and make your own conclusion. If you listen to the Lala Land soundtrack it may grow on you. Granted you should fall in love with the music sooner, that may be the biggest flaw in the movie.

Agreed. But 'one of the most romantic movies you've ever seen?' Maybe the first 20 minutes.

I agree. Indeed that was the main problem with an otherwise beautiful movie.

I'll agree that the "character development" was somewhat lacking, but many films don't have good character development, yet are still successful artistically. It just comes down to what's required in that particular film. This movie was more about characters who were representative of a type, and overall it wasn't a character-centric movie. Still, I feel that Chazelle did some to try to flesh out motivations, such as Mia's love of old movies with her aunt or whatever, and Sebastian's fetishism of old jazz.