Film Review: La La Land

This will probably be quite a short review, because, as usual, I left it way too long after watching to get round to writing about it, and also because I have a VERY long to-do list unfortunately (including some more blog posts though!)

I had been wanting to see this film since its release and had made plans with friends to see it several times, which kept falling through! Eventually, after a horrible, long week of uni deadlines, my flatmate and I decided to spend our Sunday in Dundee for a bit of shopping, lunch and cinema. It was a MUCH NEEDED treat.

The hype around this had been huge, and at this point it was nominated for a lot of awards (we went on the Sunday afternoon before the Oscars and all the drama with Moonlight and mix-ups ... if you didn't hear about this then you can read about it in this BBC news article ).

Anyway, despite all of the coverage I realised as we entered the cinema that I actually had very little idea what it was about. All I knew was that it starred Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling, was a musical, allegedly had beautiful music, was very emotional and was supposedly rather beautiful! So it sounded right up my street!

Brief Summary: Mia is an aspiring actress, waitressing while she auditions over and over again in LA, and Sebastian is a jazz musician and phenomenal pianist who struggles to keep jobs working as restaurant entertainment, but dreams of opening his own jazz club. The two meet, but can they both love each other and achieve their very separate dreams?

From the very first number it was.. well ... a bit odd! Not in a bad way, but the big, lively opening song appeared to have no real correlation to the rest of the plot.

The music WAS pretty beautiful, and I loved the costumes too. There wasn't really much of a story though! The pair were strangers one minute and in love the next, and the only real climactic point of action was when Mia decided she wants to quit acting, but Sebastian insists she go to the big audition. I make a rule of not including major spoilers, but I will say that that was both a good and bad decision on his part!

It was a love story, and at times that was beautiful, but to be honest I don't think you actually felt connected enough as a viewer to the characters' relationship to root for their love.

What I did root for was their goals. The moments depicting struggle and ambition were particularly heart-warming. Especially Mia's big audition song, "The Fool's Who Dream". I will always relate to the idea of trying to 'make it' in the artistic world, to self doubt, to wondering if its worth it, and I think La La Land, and both Stone and Gosling, depicted these struggles beautifully.

On a side-note, I LOVED

Emma Stone's reaction to

winning her Oscar...

she just seemed so genuine,

like she truly could not believe it!

The dancing, which had been one of the main focuses of the hype, was a little underwhelming! It wasn't that adventurous, and was a bit samey throughout! The idea of two people spontaneously dancing, while a little odd, was pretty romantic though. I particularly enjoyed the museum scene, it was fairly breath-taking.

Finally, I'm afraid I wasn't a fan of the ending. I mean, it wasn't awful... without giving it away, its not a cliché fairy-tale ending, but it is happy in its own way. I just didn't like the way it was done. Like, the whole film is about the couple and let's just say that in an annoyingly short space of time, Mia moves on VERY QUICKLY! Like, who even was that guy at the end?! Rant over.

Overall, I think it was a nice film, and sections of it really were magical and inspiring, but I actually found myself laughing at bits that weren't meant to be funny, just because they were kind of bizarre! I do, however, want to see it again when its on DVD or Netflix, just because I think it's one of those films that could really do with a second watch. Not my favourite film, and I struggle to understand how it got quite that many awards, but certainly a nice feel good for the end of a busy week!

Positive Labels (#IWD17)

The amount of time its taken me to post again is shameful! Not for lack of ideas, as I have a note on my phone that I've been adding to for well over a month, just due to laziness! And the fact that, as I'm a student with very reading and writing heavy courses, my 'free' time is usually spent on Netflix! And getting involved in an increasing number of extra-curricular activities, because I wouldn't be me if I didn't haha.

Once again, I find myself returning to my blog at a time when I couldn't be busier academically! Anything for procrastination. But recently a number of things have contributed to me feeling really creative: reading good books and visiting bookshops; helping out at the local poetry festival; listening to the new Ed Sheeran album; and many other things! To be honest, being a student here in itself is very creatively stimulating. With Spring Break approaching, I'm really looking forward to getting away for a wee while and spending time with family, but every day I'm reminded in some way of how much I love the environment I'm lucky enough to find myself in at the moment. I also thought that bashing out a few rough blog posts (in true 'Draft One' style!) while sitting in a busy library might loosen the writers' block threatening to lower my productivity, and then I might finally get cracking on my essay!

Well, that was some intro! I think this will be one of those rather rambley posts... sorry! This academic year I've really pushed myself to get involved in lots of student activities: the student newspaper, swimming club, student ambassadors, orchestra, trad and folk society, foreign affairs society and a part time job are just a selection of the things I've got involved in my time at university so far. I figure, time here seems to fly by, so I better make the most of it!

It was the annual FAS 'Summit'/conference at the beginning of February that got me note-taking for this post, but honestly I'm not 100% sure what exactly it was I wanted to say, so please bear with me!

The  conference was entitled 'World of Women: Freedom to Succeed Summit'. And I must say, as you can imagine, it was pretty darn inspiring. Since I decided just to listen and enjoy the speeches, I didn't take notes so I won't go into details about what exactly was said, but it was essentially all about empowering women and inspiring stories from across the world. There were reps from many walks of life, from a women who helped found a company producing reusable female hygiene products for impoverished communities, to a woman accountant and business coach, to a lawyer specialising in female Muslim cases, a female representative from NATO,  a student who set up a society aiming to enable female students to believe themselves capable of independent financial security and a well-known journalist, among others. The one thing missing, in my opinion, was a male perspective on the many roles of women in our world. But I suppose not everyone would agree, and it may not have totally fitted with the programme for the day.

Yesterday (March 8th) was International Women's Day, and I spent much of the day pondering what that meant, and if I was a fan! It's similar to the issues I encountered when considered my views on Feminism (see my post called 'I am a Feminist... I think'). Why do we have an International Women's Day? Are we encouraging a binary gender divide and inequality by dedicating a day to women? I'm
not going to claim that those issues are totally cleared up in my head, and everyone is entitled to their view, but I have generally come to the conclusion that raising awareness about the importance of gender equality and the continuing lack of it visible so often in our world is never a bad thing. We just wouldn't exist without distinct roles in society, and certainly without the women in our world. And their achievements and goals and dreams are no more whimsical or idealistic than any man's. Plus, I got to tweet one of my fave old pics of my Mum and I, and celebrate a woman who made me who I am, and I love that.

I don 't think there's much benefit to me getting any soppier, but I'm glad we had #IWD to make us stop and think of these issues. And there was one more point I wanted to touch on. If you read my review of the book 'All the Bright Places' you may remember that, for me, it brought up the problematic issue of 'labelling' and how one of the main characters was caused to really retreat within himself and refuse help as a result of fear surrounding labelling. It was something that certainly struck a chord with me at the time, and must have stayed with me because I thought of it again during this conference, but this time with far more positive connotations...

I was recently speaking to my Mum via Whatsapp, and talking about how I was busy conducting some interviews for the student newspaper, and in her reply she referred to me as a "budding journalist" or "aspiring journalist" or something along those lines. On reflection, as a teenager I definitely shied away from embracing any label that committed me to role or profession, that made me sound productive or successful. Y'know, I'd always answer with "not really" or "haha" or "muuuum... stop being so embarrassing!"  I don't think that that is uncommon.

But sitting in that conference, I suddenly realised that I am proud to call myself an "aspiring journalist", or anything else that reflects my goals and hard work. Because they can change and adapt, but its ok to admit what I want right now and believe it to be possible.

I'm not sure how much sense I've made, but I really should get back to essay writing! To all my fellow lassies out there, dream big, let those dreams become a part of your identity, and keep kicking ass! There you go, my advice in a nutshell!

Catriona x