Didn't know that either! Still think the movie would enjoy a net benefit if the lead roles were better singers. I'll agree these advantages manifested into a solid romantic story but at no point did I think the film absolutely needed these particular two.
I think that a song at some point made a point about "how imperfect we are" or something along that line. It's dedicated to all the dreamers and not to the ones that are perfect, which is quite a different category.
Is it just me or did this film forget it was a musical after the first two numbers?
Those first two songs were wonderful, and then it turned into a romcom with the occasional musical montage. Hardly any singing or dancing, just a flood of movie references.
Pretty good movie, coulda been a lot better.
Well, my take is that it refines the old-school musical in something new that can be successful in it's own right, like a "new" film category. It's something like the iPhone did 10 years ago. Nothing exceptionally new just well put together in a new cohesive form that creates a different category.
This is why I think LLL deserves the Oscar. Not because of the throwbacks to the Hollywood's factory of dreams, or because of the cinematography, or the songs; they are all good or very good but so are other movies. It's because putting all these together they've elevated the genre into something "new" (or rather different), you can't compare it to anything out at this moment.
Oh and the script is truly exceptional, there are so many parallel things/planes going on at once and converging at the same time as a cohesive piece that's quite a feat. The opening sequence is text-book musical but it's filmed in a modern way, long take with the camera going about through it all; than there's the old-new music clash. Then their romantic vs achievement plan, and so on.
The movie didn't set up to be perfect, just like the dreamers, however it did achieve something different and successful in its own right.
