So I asked Q (the original author of the thought) 'So if Whiplash was Damian's pain, and La La Land his joy, what the hell is this?' And for once, she didn't know.
I think that it's both a love letter to and condemnation of Hollywood - I think the Hollywood of old - not sure I could discern any modern day critique. Was it too un-PC for the Oscars? (Only production design / costumes and music were nominated.)
It's the story of four disparate characters who do all connect, but sometimes only fleetingly. Leonardo Di Caprio plays a sort of Douglas Fairbanks type star who loves foreign women, Margot Robbie is fabulous again as a wannabe star, Diego Calva (good) is a resourceful gofer who wants to be in movies, and British Jovan Adepo is the jazz trumpeter.
The film does contain some slightly off-putting moments of excess, to be sure (like the dungeons of depravity) which may or may not reflect a certain aspect to Hollywood of the era. But overall we really enjoyed it. It's bitter-sweet, loud and funny, with great moments e.g. snake fight, first sound scene, Margot walking into the darkness.
It's as visually dynamic as La La Land, with the same cinematographer Linus Sandgren (in 35mm widescreen), who should have been Oscar nominated. In fact all the same team are there - Tom Cross has a snappy way of getting you from one place to another, Justin Hurwitz is deliberately evoking passages from the previous film whilst writing great new stuff (loved his theme for the couple on out-of-tune piano), Mary Zophres has a massive job in costuming everyone; Florencia Martin on production design is a new addition.
I was surprised to see hand-cranked cameras in 1926.
With: Li Jun Li (a sort of Anna May Wong?), Jean Smart (acerbic journalist), P.J. Byrne. Lukas Haas (suicidal one), Olivia Hamilton (film director), Max Minghella (Thalberg), Tobey Maguire, Katherine Waterstone, Flea, Jeff Garlin, Eric Roberts (Margot's dad), Rory Scovel (drug dealer), Ethan Suplee, Samara Weaving (rival actress) and Olivia Wilde.
I mainly got what was going on in the closing montage, but not what those coloured cloudy images were - the future?
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