ooo-lah-lah !!!

Rating: 10/10 (3 February 2017)

Friday is date night and tonight it was my turn to pick the picture. To Mrs. Shullivan's surprise I picked the musical La La Land. Normally I would have picked a comedy or a good thriller, but we both wanted to see why there were so many mixed reactions to this feature film. It seemed to be a 50/50 split between loved it and hated it. With us two Shullivan's we were not on the fence, we both loved it.
Okay so neither star Ryan Gosling or Emma Stone can sing or dance very well but that was some of the charm emanating from La La Land and this will certainly be a memorable romantic/musical film for decades to come. I don't rely on determining the quality of a film based on how many Academy award nominations and/or wins a film may be awarded because as far as the awards shows go most are just for the pompous farts who produce their own films and they do not like to share significant awards at all. Thus we never see any comedies or action/thrillers even receiving award nominations, just some really big box office revenues. So who needs awards shows when you have everyday critics like IMDb viewers who provide realistic feedback, sometimes good, sometimes bad.
What Mrs. Shullivan and I liked most was the latter half of the film as jazz pianist Sebastian (Ryan Gosling) and wannabe actress Mia (Emma Stone) resolved their personal issues with each other and they bonded as live-in partners in support of each others dreams. Of course in any relationship there are highs and lows and Sebastian and Mia certainly had their share of ups and let downs.
We loved the bright rich diverse colors of all the actors and dancers costumes as well as the rich hue of the Hollywood California landscapes that writer/director Damien Chazelle integrated into many of the song and dance numbers. The cinematography was brilliant during the song and dance numbers performed by all of the cast, especially Ryan and Emma's significant song and dance number that is displayed as the film's cover art. This scene takes place just after Sebastian and Mia leave a party together as they first get to know each other a little bit better than just as acquaintances'. As I said maybe Ryan and Emma are not classically trained singers/dancers but how many of us normal couples fell in love while listening to great music and shaking the old hips 'ala one, two three? Isn't that what makes romance such a magical experience.
I do not want to give away the ending but I will say that this musical has some unexpected twists and turns that in my humble opinion make this what will be considered a classic musical/romance in the following decades that hopeless romantics (like Mrs Shullivan and I) will want to see a couple of times in their lifetime, maybe even with their teenage grandchildren who will also fall in love with La La Land for many generations to come.
This film covers Sebastian and Mia's relationship as it evolves over all four seasons and then some with new musical numbers that include songs by the world class musician John Legend, some old style 1950's big dance numbers with vibrant costumes and reminiscent of Martha and the Vandellas who would in 1983 sing "they would be dancing in the streets", literally.
There is no mixed feelings about this film for Mrs. Shullivan and I, we don't care how many Academy awards La La Land wins or loses. All you really need to know is that we loved the film, yes it will eventually be rated as a classic musical/romance film and yes I am giving it a five star rating, a perfect 10 for 10 score. We simply just loved it, from the beginning and especially through to the ending.