LOS ANGELES -- La La Land, starring Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone, just made its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival, where most critics fell head-over-heels for the film.
La La Landserves as writer-director Damien Chazelle's follow-up to his critically acclaimed and Oscar-nominated drama Whiplash, and apparently serves as proof that he's no one-hit wonder. It's also a major piece of the 2017 Oscars puzzle -- how could a throwback musical, set in the heart of the Hollywood dream factory, not be?
Mashablewill have its own review of La La Landwhen it screens at the Toronto International Film Festival on Sept. 12. The musical has major awards hopes and the trailer looks absolutely gorgeous, but it doesn't suggest much conflict within the love story.
Let's see what the critics have to say about that ...
SEE ALSO:Emma Stone sings a tune of longing in new 'La La Land' trailerPeter Bradshaw, The Guardian
"An unapologetically romantic homage to classic movie musicals, splashing its poster-paint energy and dream-chasing optimism on the screen. "La La Landis such a happy, sweet-natured movie – something to give you a vitamin-D boost of sunshine.”
Todd McCarthy, The Hollywood Reporter
“Not perfect, but dazzling and distinctive all the same,” says the veteran trade critic. “If you’re going to fall hard for Damien Chazelle’s daring and beautiful La La Land, it will probably be at first sight. There’s never been anything quite like the opening sequence.”
SEE ALSO:Ryan Gosling sings a song of love in 'La La Land' trailerEric Kohn, Indiewire
Kohn gives the film a 'B,' calling it "an ode to classic musicals that captures their fun, if not their greatness.” He continues, "La La Landsucceeds in making its sweet imagery sing, particularly with the sensational finale. In a wordless explosion of lights and shadows, Chazelle reignites the movie with fresh context that forces it to get real."
Owen Gleiberman, Variety
The “most audacious big-screen musical in a long time.” The film “isn’t a masterpiece (and on some level it wants to be). Yet it’s an elating ramble of a movie, ardent and full of feeling, passionate but also exquisitely controlled. It winds up swimming in melancholy, yet its most convincing pleasures are the moments when it lifts the audience into a state of old-movie exaltation, leading us to think, ‘What a glorious feeling. I’m happy again.’”
Alonso Duralde, TheWrap
“The musical is as malleable and eclectic a genre as any other, and Chazelle reminds us how effectively it can be applied to intimate moments as well as huge ones. ... Gosling and Stone’s powerful chemistry is as palpable as it was in Crazy Stupid Love— they were that film’s sole selling point — and each of them conveys their character’s love of the arts and drive to succeed.”
Jessica Kiang of The Playlist
"A primary colored explosion of pure delight that revels in both the manufactured perfections of studio-era Hollywood musicals and in the imperfections and flubbed lines of real life, and finds eternally charming, often spectacular ways to occupy the largely unmapped territory between the two, the film is a huge risk and an absolute triumph. But it also manages to be intimate, to feel like a secret whispered into your ear, and yours alone."
Pete Hammond, Deadline
The Oscar oracle calls the film “a gorgeous romantic fever dream of a musical that should hit contemporary audiences right in their sweet spot.” Hammond adds that "this is a movie worth savoring, something that entertains, enlightens and makes us feel good about being alive.”
I think we get the picture at this point. The movie is very good, wholly unique, and features two movie stars doing what movie stars do best. It sounds like we have a real contender on our hands.
Mark your calendars for Dec. 7.
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SEE ALSO:Emma Stone sings a tune of longing in new 'La La Land' trailer