Golden Globe Goodies

With Golden Globe nominations announced, it seemed like fate that I was able to attend early screenings for both La La Land and Lion; two heavily nominated films! While these two are very different films, one a musical/romance and the other a heart wrenching drama, I was so very lucky to get to see them both. Below I will do a break down on my feelings of both films and whether or not to they should be on your list of MUST WATCH MOVIES, obviously with some spoilers thrown in there!

Lion

With 4 GG nominations (best motion picture, best original score, best supporting actor and actress), this film was breathtakingly real and devastating. With a good 60% of the film focusing on young Saroo as he battled to find his way through Calcutta back home, the audience just, 1, fell in love with young actor Sunny Pawar, but 2, was faced with the horrifying reality that is the state of India. Opening the audiences eyes to the real horrors that so many children in India face through the depictions of ill-treatment based on language barriers, human trafficking and the heinous state of some orphanages, this film is acting as a tool to help end these atrocities.

In regards to the acting within the film, I do believe that young new actor Sunny Pawar was robbed of a lead acting nomination by the GGs, as I have never seen someone so young act with such passion and raw talent. That being said, Dev Patel and Nicole Kidman 100% deserve their nominations for best supporting actor and actress. As someone who has never been the biggest fan of Kidman's acting, this film completely changed my outlook on her. Through her role of Sue, Saroo's adoptive mother, Kidman showed us the strife that a parent is faced with after adopting. Her acting showed such raw emotion, that just set her apart. Dev fully embraced this character. He gave us such a tortured young man, faced with flashbacks and the torment of not knowing what happened to his family. He acted his heart out! I enjoyed Rooney Mara and David Wenham's characters, while both somewhat small roles.

The next few bits are going to be spoilers, so if you do not want to see those, TURN BACK.

My heart consistently broke, seeing poor young Saroo wandering the streets of Calcutta, being constantly turned away by the citizens due to him not speaking Bengali. In addition to this, I enjoyed that the director tied pieces of his childhood, pre getting lost, all the way to the 25 years later. The fact that this film was based on a true story just blew my mind. One of my favorite additions to the film was at the end when they brought the real life Sue, Saroo and his biological mother together and how touching the reactions were.

Overall, if you are in the mood for a good cry and a somewhat feel good end, Lion is a film you do not want to pass up. I would give this 10 out if 10 stars, it was just incredible!

La La Land

With a strong 7 GG nominations (best director, best motion picture, best original score, best original song, best lead actor and actress and best screenplay), it is so surprising that La La Land is musical and not a classic musical, such as Les Miserables. With vibrant colors, tons of attention paid to the arts, strong retro film vibes and gorgeous costumes, this film was a real treat for the eyes. Also treating the ears, who EVER would have thought that Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone could sing as well as they can?! The nominated original song, City of Stars, sung by Gosling and Stone just pump the feels into you! Something I really loved about this film is how much it felt like the old classics I was raised on, like Singin' in the Rain, Some Like It Hot or Pillow Talk; somewhat hokey, but portraying real life emotions and themes.

The acting for Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling was on point per usual, then throw the singing and random outbreaks of dancing and BAM, you get two very deserving lead actor and actress nominees! Stone's underlying comedic presence came out every so slightly, but the best part of her role of Mia for me was the more serious side to her. We really got to see Stone act with more passion and emotion this time around. Gosling was just perfection, nothing more can be said. A fun part of the film were the random cameo appearances by J.K. Simmons, Finn Wittrock and of course John Legend!

The next few bits are going to be spoilers, so if you do not want to see those, TURN BACK.

So overall this film would get 7 stars out of 10 for me. Why only 7 do you ask? Well here we go. Firstly, there were a lot of points where the cinematography was styled with somewhat blurry shots, honestly just making my head spin and not in a good way, more of a Cloverfield way. Secondly, the last 20 minutes where just confusing. It went from Mia (Stone) and her husband, who was not Sebastian (Gosling), walking into Seb's, Gosling's characters Jazz club and then this crazy spiral back all the way to the beginning of the film and how things could've been different if certain decisions had been made. This spiral of alternate reality, had strong old Broadway vibes, but also like strange Willy Wonka vibes somehow. Then BAM back to the reality of the original decisions and THE END, they didn't end up together..... she ended up with some generic boring guy and Gosling's character ended up.... alone?? Other than this ending, I loved this film so much! So I recommend seeing it for sure, maybe you'll be more into this pessimistic ending, I am just a sap and love happy endings haha.