Mel

*“Here’s to the fools who dream..”* It’s hard for me to put into words what I just experienced. But I’ll try anyway. *La La Land* made me tear up more than once, and my heart honestly felt like it was pulled in ten different directions. It’s a film about dreams, hope, art, love, and so much more. I felt absolutely connected to these characters, their love for their craft, and for each other. It left me wide eyed, in a sort of childlike wonder way. The storytelling is absolutely masterful. Chazelle takes full advantage of film as a visual medium: the camera work is more than impressive, the cinematography is gorgeous, and the colors .. God, the colors! But not only that, he also plays with the physicality of it (Sebastian played the piano with such loving hands it made emotional)  the sounds, the music.. until it becomes a wonderful symphony of senses. The lead characters are profoundly human, and the actors have such devastating chemistry. The performances were absolutely amazing and I’m still amazed by how natural, physical, and whole they played the characters. Mia and Sebastian love each other, build each other, lose each other, and that’s what makes their story theirs. There was a sort of dream like quality to so much of this, which is something I love in films, and the way it’s done takes advantage of every single aspect of the frames and sound to make you feel the emotion.  The musical numbers never feel forced, but rather natural, and always seem to add a load of emotion dialogue just can’t seem to give as well.  It’s an ode to loss, to love, and of course, to foolish dreamers.

I didn’t love this as much as I thought I would, which surprised me because I usually adore musicals, but it’s still a great lighthearted watch. It’s fun, obviously iconic, with incredible performances from the lead actresses and nice musical numbers. Despite the film’s age, the women lead the romantic chase, which is really interesting to see. The pacing is a bit odd and choppy at times though, and it can make the film feel less enjoyable. Overall a very iconic and fun musical.

Absurdly funny, and touching.* *I really enjoyed *Mickey 17, *despite its flaws. It’s a really nice, bizarre reflexion on what it means to be human, and the continuation of consciousness. Who is Mickey? Why can’t he simply be? Are the other Mickeys him as well, in the same way that he, Mickey 17, is himself? Well if so, how can they coexist? I really liked our main character, who’s very loveable, and of course, Pattinson’s performance is absolutely terrific. He carries the whole thing remarkably well. I also enjoyed how it touched on survival guilt, and it has a nice political weight to it, that really matters especially right now (I mean, Ruffalo’s character is basically Donald Trump, lol).  Despite how much I enjoyed it, I do think some of the relationships are underdeveloped, and most of the characters aren’t fully fleshed out, so I didn’t really feel a connection to some of the things happening. It feels a little too typically blockbuster-y sometimes.  The whole concept is very interesting though and it was a truly weird unique film. A very nice satire mindfuck.