August 31 marked not only the end of an overly heated month (both on and off the web), but also the beginning of this year’s fall festival season. That’s right. It’s Venice (#Venezia73) time. The starting shot of the ritualized autumnal deluge of film over and under-appraisals of films. Never mind that most of us won’t see these films for weeks, if not months or years, depending on distribution deals. Venice is an important festival and as such, important for film fans and professionals to track.
Women and Hollywood reported in July that “the 73rd iteration of the fest demonstrates that they are lagging behind when it comes to gender equality in their programming” with only two female directors in its Main Competition, two in their Out of Competition sections, and a relatively whopping six in HORIZONS. We have created a work-in-progress twitter list of women writers covering the festival, with a measly fourteen members as of this posting. As women are in the staggering minority in the VIFF press and filmmaker seats, we’d better make our voices ring loud and ring true to rise enough to be heard. And in this spirit, we will be publishing round-ups of reviews and twitter reactions written by women throughout the entire 2016 fall festival season.
In a spot previously held by the likes of Oscar winners “Gravity” and “Birdman,” Damien Chazelle’s “La La Land” opened the 73rd Venice International Film Festival. Director-screenwriter Chazelle shot to prominence two years ago with “Whiplash,” which was a Sundance favorite that did good by bringing home Oscars. His latest stars Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling as two creatives who find love in the midst of Classic Hollywood-stylized L.A.
Check out pull-quotes from festival reviews down below, as well as a bunch of twitter reactions from female film critics on the ground at the fest.
(We’ve updated the following reviews and reactions to include those from Telluride and will be updating with coverage from TIFF.)
“‘La La Land’ is classic escapism from the dream factory, shot on the Warner Bros lot in anamorphic Cinemascope in 35mil (in an unusual 2.52:1 ratio). A long-gestating project for Chazelle, it riffs, like ‘Guy and Madeline’— on two lovers whose dreams may not be compatible with their art.” — Fionnuala Halligan, Screen Daily
“Even in its irony and paradox, its more dreamlike and playful aspects, ‘La La Land’ is extremely realistic. A film that doesn’t slip away, but is able to get inside, to involve you and also motivate you. A film that, in its pastel colors, is able to dampen the most dramatic moments,” — Gabrielle Croix, Lega Nerd (translated from the review’s original Italian by GoogleTranslate)
“At one point the two actually dance on air among the stars of the Griffith Observatory above the city of Los Angeles, home to the madness of ‘La La Land.’ Yet the film is also a screwball comedy that allows modern life to constantly throw a spanner (or a mobile phone) into the nostalgia trip.” — Kate Muir, The Times
“‘La La Land’ is a film you simply never want to stop watching. It has wisdom and joy and sadness and such magic, from the evocative power of music to the transportive power of movies. It is a heartfelt lament for the fact that the place where those things meet — the movie musical — all but disappeared from our screens, and a passionately argued, utterly convincing manifesto for its return.” — Jessica Kiang, The Playlist
“‘La La Land’ is both a love letter to a confounding and magical city and an ode to the idea of the might-have-been romance, in all its piercing sweetness. It’s a movie with the potential to make lovers of us all. All we have to do is fall into its arms.” — Stephanie Zacharek, Time
“‘Believe the hype’ as they say it. ‘La La Land’ is indeed extraordinary. It’s an aching romance; a gorgeously shot and choreographed musical that nods to Jacques Demy’s ‘The Young Girls of Rochefort’ and Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen’s ‘Singin’ in the Rain.’ And above all, it’s a heartbreaking story of love getting in the way of dreams and vice versa for two people who are right for each other, if only they hadn’t met at the wrong time.” — Tomris Laffly, Film Journal International
“‘La La Land,’ despite being a musical set in Los Angeles as a tremendously entertaining romantic comedy, is really about the right and wrong choices. ‘La La Land’ is everything you’ve already read. A triumph of cinema, a work of art, an homage to the great French musicals like ‘The Umbrellas of Cherbourg’ that seem to have, at least partly, inspired it.” — Sasha Stone, Awards Daily
They don't make movies like that anymore. Thank you #LaLaLand #Venice73
massive ohrwurm after #LaLaLand. charming musical romcom, perfect festival opener. final 30 min make up for the lagging before #Venezia73
— @mmiedl
I don't like Musicals. But I loved #LaLaLand - so sad and true and well told. #Venezia73
OKOK LA LA LAND was indeed magical and gave me feels #Telluride
Lala Love @LaLaLand They pulled it off!! Musicals like this feed my soul @TellurideFests premier last night #muscials #LaLaLand #heartfelt
LA LA LAND is pure nostalgic joy. I want to see it again, study it, live inside it... #Telluride
Accurate portrayal of me watching La La Land:
I am in love with La La Land. Get ready to smile for 2 hours straight, this movie is a pure delight. #TIFF16
LA LA LAND: Exactly my tempo. #TIFF16
There are parts of #LaLaLand I loved so much I thought my heart would burst. Deeply romantic, bittersweet but joyful too. #TIFF16
— @ajhan
