By Susan Granger
Special to WestportNow
Opening with a fabulous fantasy sequence of morning commuters caught in congested traffic on Los Angeles’ freeways, “La La Land,” Damien Chazelle’s dazzling contemporary musical chronicles longing, love and lingering wistfulness.
Aspiring actress Mia (Emma Stone) works as a barista at a café on the Warner Brothers’ studio lot, while brooding jazz pianist Sebastian (Ryan Gosling) is tired of playing background music at bars and restaurants. They “meet cute” several times before they actually connect.
Encouraging one another to follow their dreams, their careers move forward. She writes a one-woman show attracting the interest of an influential agent, while he joins a touring rock band, fronted by his old friend Keith (John Legend).
Not surprisingly, long separations take a toll on their romantic relationship as the seasons change.
Writer/director Damien Chazelle (“Whiplash”) continues to astonish. Inspired by Jacques Demy’s French New Wave classic “The Umbrellas of Cherbourg,” along with “A Star Is Born,” “Singin’ in the Rain” and “The Artist,” he stylishly transitions from naturalism into the breezy romanticism of make-believe through song-and-dance numbers, composed by Justin Hurwitz with lyrics by Benj Pasek and Westport’s Justin Paul, a 2003 Staples High School graduate.
Choreographer Mandy Moore devises wondrous, magical moments, reminiscent of Fred Astaire/Ginger Rogers & Gene Kelly/Debbie Reynolds, particularly when the lovebirds glide into the heavens at the Griffith Observatory.
Crashing back to reality, Chazelle’s exquisite staging of Mia’s audition scenes evokes the inevitable rejection and casual cruelty of the casting process.
A native of Rhode Island, Chazelle, at first, found Los Angeles a scary, lonely place, noting: “I wanted to try to present the city as something that brings people together and tears people apart. Inspires dreams and crushes them – and, maybe, re-inspires them again. The city is both villain and hero.”
On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “La La Land” is an entrancing, unabashedly twinkly 10, affectionately recalling the Golden Era of Hollywood musicals.
From fashion designer-turned-writer/director Tom Ford comes “Nocturnal Animals,” a bizarre marital thriller, as a divorced couple discover dark truths about their tortured relationship.
The opening scene is bizarre: grotesquely obese, naked, middle-aged women writhe in billowing glitter at an elite Los Angeles art gallery opening, curated by Susan Morrow (Amy Adams).
Afterwards, Susan’s emotionally distant husband, WASP financier Hutton (Armie Hammer), jets off to New York for an adulterous liaison – under the pretext of saving his failing business.
So Susan curls up on a couch in their luxurious, modernist mansion in the Hollywood hills to read the manuscript of a new book, titled ‘Nocturnal Animals,’ sent by her ex-husband Edward Sheffield (Jake Gyllenhaal), who dedicates it to her since she’s a chronic insomniac.
The fictitious noir melodrama revolves around Tony Hastings (Gyllenhaal) who, driving his Mercedes from Dallas to Marfa, takes a wrong turn and is ambushed on a deserted highway by three amped-up yokels who kidnap his wife (Isla Fisher) and teenage daughter (Ellie Bamber).
Working with a West Texas lawman, Bobby Andes (Michael Shannon), Tony reconstructs the terrifying violence and grim brutality that took place late that night.
Obviously an allegorical commentary on Edward’s marriage to Susan and how she jilted him, the nihilistic novel causes her to reflect on and re-evaluate both her past and present relationships.
Adapting Austin Wright’s 1993 novel “Tony and Susan,” Tom Ford (“A Single Man”) has assembled a stellar cast, including Aaron Taylor-Johnson, as the rednecks’ creepy ringleader, and Laura Linney, as Susan’s icy socialite mother – and his intuitive social commentary is slyly cynical.
Cinematographer Seamus McGarvey delivers intoxicating, eye-catching imagery, immeasurably aided by production designer Shane Valentino and costume designer Arianne Phillips.
On the Granger Gauge, “Nocturnal Animals” is a sleek, sophisticated 7, focusing on surreal passion and suspenseful revenge.
A long time ago, George Lucas had a visionary concept of space-age mythology, utilizing droids, alien entities and aerial dogfights as background for a compelling human drama, creating a quasi-mystical epic. But then in 2012, Disney bought Lucasfilm for $4.05 billion, planning a series of spinoffs,
“Star Wars: Rogue One” is a prequel, set between “Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith” and “Star Wars Episode IV – A New Hope.” But the stars are gone and much of the spirit has been lost, leaving only a lot more wars.
After her backstory is established, resourceful Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones) joins the Alliance with Cassian Andor (Diego Luna) and a ragtag group of freedom fighters, planning to steal plans for the Death Star, an immense galactic weapon designed by Jyn’s father (Mads Mikkelsen), from Darth Vader’s evil Empire.
That’s the plot in a nutshell. Combat prevails as a multitude of characters are all-too-briefly introduced, only to disappear into the ether from which they emerged.
There’s Saw Gerrera (Forest Whitaker), Bail Organa (Jimmy Smits), Bodi Rook (Riz Ahmed), Baze Malbus (Wen Jiang) and Chirrut Imwe, and a blind Ninja (Hong Kong action star Donnie Yen) who is guided by the Force – plus villainous Imperial overlord Orson Krennic (Ben Mendelsohn). James Earl Jones once-again voiced Darth Vader.
Cassian Andor’s black metallic robot, K-2SO (voiced by Alan Tudyk), provides caustic comic relief – and there are some cool cameos, made possible by CGI and motion-capture technology.
Screenwriters Chris Weitz and Tony Gilroy, working with director Gareth Edwards and Industrial Light & Magic’s John Knoll, coalesce the fantasy around the scrappy warrior, Jyn Erso, who, unfortunately, lacks the spunky appeal of Daisy Ridley’s Rae in “The Force Awakens.”
On the Granger Gauge, “Star Wars: Rogue One” is a spacefaring 6 – like a big-screen computer game with lots of Stormtroopers.
( Editor’s Note: Westport resident Susan Granger grew up in Hollywood, studied journalism with Pierre Salinger at Mills College, and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with highest honors in journalism. In addition to writing for newspapers and magazines, she has been on radio/television as an anchorwoman and movie/drama critic for many years. See her reviews at www.susangranger.com.)
