I love it, yet I hate it, but I still love it... while hating it

Rating: Null/10 (14 June 2017)

They say a great work of art makes you feel something. Still, I'm not convinced this is what they had in mind. Because this movie... this movie...
It's about Hollywood. And it's about music. And art. And dreams. And about chasing all of those. It's set in the modern times, oddly enough, yet its style and way of talking, way of experiencing, is straight from the olden times. It's Hollywood nostalgia at its finest. From the big showstopper musical numbers to its characters and stereotypes and stories.
And I love it. Both the main characters, with Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling giving career-defining performances. Their romance, their differences, their passions, all of them exhilarating, and you could spend decades strolling down the streets and boulevards, singing songs in smoky clubs, basking in the sun that shines just for them.
And I hate it. For every musical piece of genius, there's a number that makes me feel manipulated. For every moment of such beauty that it makes me tremble and wish to be a better poet to express it properly, there's a moment when you want to take the movie by the throat and demand what's wrong with it, why is it they way it is. Why does it insist on dragging itself down with its melancholy and forced realism.
On and on it goes and by the end I was left exhausted by conflicting emotions. With such minor changes I could have had a movie that would have inspired me for years to come. Yet what I hate about the film also makes it stronger. Because what I hate are not flaws but differing ideals. Because while this film is all about Hollywood nostalgia and dreams, it's also about that which was always left outside when talking about those things. And that's not something I can argue against.
So here's to the dreamers. But also those that wake up in the morning. Those that fail. Those that don't achieve their dreams. And here's to those that keep on dreaming.