La La Land on acid, this rock operetta about two L.A. celebrities, provocative stand-up comedian Henry and opera soprano Ann, and their extraordinary daughter Annette is not for everyone. Jack and I did not hate it, but were glad to have watched it at home with the pause button at the ready. It's an unrelenting 140 minutes long. That said, it's clever and I've not seen anything quite like it before.
Adam Driver and Marion Cotillard are first rate as Henry and Ann and Simon Helberg plays the accompanist. Catherine Trottman provides Cotillard's operatic vocals and Hebe Griffiths sings for Annette.
This is the English language debut of director Leos Carax, working from a story by Ron Mael & Russell Mael. The brothers perform as the duo Sparks and originally planned the project as an album until they met Carax at Cannes.
Driver thanks comedians Chris Rock and Bill Burr, presumably helping him with his character's outrageous comedy shows.
Sparks is credited with the soundtrack and you can stream it on Apple Music and elsewhere. The album is the band's 25th studio album in fifty years.
Sparks is credited with the soundtrack and you can stream it on Apple Music and elsewhere. The album is the band's 25th studio album in fifty years.
Driver was last blogged for Marriage Story, Cotillard for Allied, Helberg for Florence Foster Jenkins, and Carax for Holy Motors,
Rotten Tomatoes' critics and audiences, averaging 71 and 76% respectively, apparently wished for the pause button. I'm surprised, actually, that the audiences rate this unusual project higher than the critics.
It's an Amazon production that we watched with our Prime subscription on October 5.
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