Great Film that Needs an Editor

Rating: 7/10 (9 January 2017)

Hollywood always loves a good story about itself, whether it's the fall from graces mystery of Sunset Boulevard, the tongue-in-cheek satire in Singin' in the Rain, or the sophisticated translation of The Artist. La La Land follow this tradition. It's a wonderful film that needed an editor, hence why I gave it a 7 even though I think there is so much to love.
The film stars two young dreamers in Sebastian Wilder (Ryan Gosling) and Mia Dolan (Emma Stone). Wilder is a struggling musician who is a rarity in the City of Angels: A native Angelino. He drives a older convertible which fits his persona: he was born in the wrong decade. He sneers as he sees his city gentrify and much of the older culture vanish. He dreams of owning a jazz club as he himself looks for any opportunity to make a quick buck, whether that's playing Christmas standards as a lounge player, assisting an 80s cover band at parties, or touring with a pop band that stands for everything he's against. Dolan, on the other hand, is like many in the city: from elsewhere. A native of a small town in Nevada, Dolan drops out of school to become a barista (aka actress) while frequenting auditions that go nowhere. Naive and hopeful, she's the counterbalance to Wilder's cynicism and pessimism. They immediately connect on one particular thing: pursuing their dreams.
I think that Gosling and Stone have excellent chemistry. I see some people complaining about that and I have no idea what movie they were watching, as I thought their romance was genuine and real, unlike most we see in film/television. I loved the magic the film had, reminding us of what great cinema can do in taking us to another world. Appearances by J.K. Simmons, John Legend, and others provide great additional support to the film. The music is beautiful and will stay with you for a long, long time, from the high energy opening number, which sets up perfectly for someone coming to L.A. for the first time, to "City of Stars" that encapsulates what we think of when we think of Hollywood. Another thing I see people complaining about are the numerous party scenes. As someone who lived in L.A. for a while as a starving artist, I can attest that yes, this film captured them perfectly. Most of them are insufficient and very rarely does anything happen at them that causes anything important. That's why I think the film does a great job at making them seem unimportant: they pretty much are, yet artists in the city go to them with the hopes that maybe it'll be the one that'll change everything.
I have one major beef with the film, but it's a big one. The editing was bad. There are scenes that point to future scenes, but sometimes these scenes lead to nothing, which makes me wonder why they were still in the film. Also, I think cutting about 30 minutes off of the film would have made it better. It got long in certain parts and I think you could have made it about 90 minutes and it still would have been an excellent film.
La La Land gives me hope, like those of new citizens of L.A., hoping to make it in acting, or directing, or writing, or music, or comedy, etc. Damien Chazelle is a very talented and young filmmaker who has given us now three excellent films. Maybe he can lead a new revolution for film in Hollywood similar to what happened in the 90s when filmmakers like Fincher, Payne, Tarantino, Lee, Singleton, Ritchie gave us really creative and groundbreaking original work. It's desperately needed in superhero/sequel/reboot obsessed Hollywood.
I recommend La La Land and call it a 9/10 star movie trapped in a 7 star film that needs an editor and some polish.