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La La Land (2016)
City of Stars - a journey of self actualization, finding love and chasing dreams
First of all; The score in this musical is simply phenomenal.
The individual tracks are well performed, catchy and does exceedingly well in captivating the feelings of our protagonists and their motivation, as well as driving the emotional story forward. I am not exaggerating, when I tell you that my top artist of 2016 on Spotify was Ryan Gosling. That's how good this movie's soundtrack is.
Secondly; The acting from our lead protagonists elevates this movie above other romantic Hollywood flicks of its time. Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling gives us incredibly subtle but emotionally strong performances, and their chemistry feels palpable and real (which it probably is to a degree, as they also starred together in Crazy, Stupid, Love). They do a fantastic job of capturing both the happy, whimsical and fulfilling moments of living in "La La Land" as well as the hardships and challenges that comes with it.
Thirdly; The cinematography and overall setup is nothing but a love-letter to Los Angeles, Hollywood and filmmaking. Each scene is colourful, vibrant, and every cut feels deliberate in its presentation. This is beautifully contrasted by the themes of hardship that career paths in this world might entail. The city and the environment, in which the story takes place, is almost made to feel as a main character, which very much makes sense in the overall themes of the movie.
And the overall themes are what really keeps me going back to ponder about this movie. To which degree can your career be a means to express yourself or something of an art-form? How do you navigate in the struggles of your career-path and your personal life, especially if it constantly brings you ups and downs along the way? Do your goals change as time passes? Would you trade parts of yourself to achieve your professional aspirations? How we deal with these questions, and the sacrifices we make along the way, are challenges that most people can relate to. That's why I believe, even though La La Land presents it's story and themes in the larger world of Hollywood, it brings forward interesting and universal questions to which there is no single answer. We each have to find our own way in the world, and the best we can do is to help and support each other.
I would definitely recommend this movie to anyone.
BoJack Horseman (2014)
Probably the greatest animated show of our time
Who would have thought that a Netflix tv-show about animated, anthropomorphic animals could be this good? And after watching it, how can one even begin to describe the emotions that one goes through, following the journey of the characters involved?
Without spoiling anything, I can say that the show keeps a fine balance between being an excellent animated comedy series, with a few laughs to be found here and there, while at the same time being able to deliver some of the most gut-wrenching, hard-hitting scenes put to television. The humor is absurdly silly, especially when following the wacky adventures of Todd and Mr. Peanutbutter. But the primary focus of the show covers some deeply serious themes like mental illness, addiction, death, and the meaning of existence. It keeps the story driven by the simple fact that actions have consequences. This approach opens up and array of ways to explore the characters and their choices, both philosophically and psychologically, which Raphael Bob-Waksberg and the rest of the wonderful cast do exceptionally well.
I cannot state clearly enough, that the writing on this show is absolutely phenomenal.
The series only gets better the more you watch and in my opinion, every new season is better than the last. The sound design and animation itself is also great and has an astonishing amount of details put into them. The animal bystander transitions, for example, in-between scenes never fail to put a smile on my face.
Definitely a must watch on Netflix.