They could both definitely dance, and it being well choreographed aided. Emma Stone can sing, she's been in musicals before and her voice shines as both being raw talent, natural and beautifully edged, especially in her solo song. She is aiding her skills with her acting to bring emotion in the scene, which made it more beautiful in my opinion, but I could see how it may have sounded sketchy.

Ryan Gosling is debatable, although he is in a band as mentioned before. He only has a few singing lines in the film, so it did not really bother me. He was enjoyable in A Lovely Night and in his duo. His City of Stars solo was meh, but it did not make me want to claw my ears out. It was simple, but also reflected the character.

[SPOILERS]

Ok... on the dancing... I actually liked La La Land, but I have to say that when you compare it to musicals from the past with actual dancers you can really see the difference...

Compare the main dance scene from La La Land (after she sees him play in the 80s band) with this one "dancing in the dark"... actual dancing starts two minutes in at 2:00 or so...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPK_6CzPJ4s

It's just a much higher level of performance, but I still liked La La Land. I hope it inspires more directors and viewers to explore the genre.

I actually love the choreography. It's more polished in older films, but I'm glad it explored new creative dances.

Yeah, it was a great choice to do something new. How many chances will most directors get to shoot something like this nowadays?

Between this and Whiplash, Chazelle has reminded audiences and other filmmakers that movies are about the arts and not just commerce or ideology... appreciation of aesthetics and the importance of human expression seem to fall by the wayside for too many films nowadays

I'm surprised indie movies haven't done more to explore musicals. It seems like an interesting niche they could get creative with and maybe inject some energy into their usually dry, lethargic films

@Renovatio said:

Yeah, it was a great choice to do something new. How many chances will most directors get to shoot something like this nowadays?

Between this and Whiplash, Chazelle has reminded audiences and other filmmakers that movies are about the arts and not just commerce or ideology... appreciation of aesthetics and the importance of human expression seem to fall by the wayside for too many films nowadays

I'm surprised indie movies haven't done more to explore musicals. It seems like an interesting niche they could get creative with and maybe inject some energy into their usually dry, lethargic films

I agree completely. Most films nowadays forget the purpose of their craft.

Was Sonoya Mizuno wasted in this? We only see her in the Someone in the Crowd sequence as they get ready to go to a party... She's a trained ballerina but had more of a dance scene in Ex Machina which is a science fiction movie...

I'd love to see more of her in movies...

This was one of the worst movies that I've seen in a long time, casting Emma Stone as female lead, bad idea.