The “What Could Have Been” Montage – La La Land (2016)
Who said musicals are supposed to have happy endings? Obviously, it wasn’t Damien Chazelle. The Whiplash director’s latest film, La La Land, brought joy to audiences as it seemed that the movie musical, which has been dead for years, had a little bit of life in it.
La La Land both honored and adapted the classic genre’s unique style; and watching it, it seemed that it was going to end the same way too, with the two main characters, Sebastian (Ryan Gosling) and Mia (Emma Stone), staying together, while also accomplishing their dreams. It felt like it was going to happen when Mia nailed her audition and was finally given a chance to be a star. Flash forward a few years and her movie was a success, she’s a renowned actress and she has a kid. But there’s another man, not Sebastian.
We watch as her and her husband (even saying it now feels wrong) go on a date, but when heavy traffic delays their trip, the new guy decides to take an exit, which leads them to a jazz club that he thinks looks like fun. As it turns out, it’s Sebastian’s club, the one he’s been dreaming of for years. He’s made it, too. Mia and her husband sit down to watch the show, and after the band finishes their song, we see Sebastian, whose youthful appearance looks tired now, jump up on stage. He spots Mia and with a smile on his face, he walks over to the piano and gracefully recites their theme.
The music ignites a montage of each decision Mia and Sebastian made throughout the film; except this time, they change, and what we come to find out is that the two could have stayed together and been in the same place they are now.
No one likes it when the main characters break up. Romances in movies (especially musicals) feel like they’re almost required to end well because break ups and separation are too “real.” But Damien Chazelle revamps the genre himself, for good and bad. At the end of the movie, we find out that the couple, who we’ve become grossly involved and singing along with for the past two hours, didn’t have to die. But now it’s too late, and that realization blindsides us right into a horrific, unbreakable wall of reality.
Hawk’s Murder – The Revenant (2015)
The Revenant was badass, pure and simple. We see Leonardo DiCaprio go through the works: he gets mauled by a bear, attacked by Indians, and even blows up his face at one point. But the spark that ignited Hugh Glass’ (DiCaprio) crusade across the wilderness and against all odds was incredibly emotional and powering.
Glass and his son, Hawk (Forrest Goodluck), join a fur trading company as their guide through the woods. Then, while hunting, Glass comes across a grizzly bear and her cubs, and is quickly attacked by the mother. Though he eventually kills the beast, he’s left severely wounded and battered. The other men come to his rescue and attempt to carry him back to their camp, but the terrain is rough and the task proves too difficult. The party’s leader (Domhnall Gleeson) orders three men stay back to care for Glass: Hawk and his friend Bridger (Will Poulter) volunteer, and the malevolent John Fitzgerald (Tom Hardy) stays behind for the money.
For days they just sit there, afraid of another Indian attack or even starving. Fitzgerald, whose ill feelings towards Glass have been established, wants to abandon the cripple, but the loyal Hawk refuses. Fitzgerald is convinced that Glass will die, and that their being there is an unnecessary formality; so he decides to make a change.
First, he tries convincing Glass to let him put him out of his misery, telling him that it will save his kid; he then goes to smother him but Hawk shows up and stops him. Hawk calls for Bridger’s help, but he’s too far away and Fitzgerald stabs him as Glass lies on the ground, helpless. When Bridger returns, Fitzgerald convinces him to abandon Glass, and they leave.
The father is no more than 20 yards from his dead son and all he can do is watch as Fitzgerald drags the body away. His sense of urgency is muted by his uselessness.
