The first step to success In my subjective opinion, Damien Chazell is the best American director of our time. Shooting films that always teeter on the verge of mainstream and auteur cinema, by the age of 34 he has already shot as many as 2 films, which are in my top 5 feature films of the 21st century. But he did not reach such heights immediately.
His debut work is Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench. She starred when Chazell was studying at Harvard University and initially this film was supposed to be his thesis. But judging by the fact that he finished Harvard in 2007, and the film of 2009, he completed his picture, obviously, later. In any case, this film in its manner is a student and even amateur mamblecore. But is it worth it to treat him more condescendingly? Alas, no.
Chazell tried to create a musical in the spirit of “Golden Hollywood”. And apparently in the spirit of musicals of the 30s, like Cylinder (1935) and Swing Time (1936) with Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. After all, the film was shot in a c/b manner and in a 3:4 format (or so). But at the same time, the music, and in principle, the manner of songs and dances is the 50-60s, something like musicals with Gene Kelly (" An American in Paris (1951), Singing in the Rain (1952), Girls from Rochefort (1967), etc.). But all these musicals are colored (as in principle all classical musicals of the 50s and 60s). And the best of them are always not cheap, with professional camera work, well-recorded sound, professional singers, actors, dancers, etc.
There's none of that in Shazell's debut. But at the same time, his film pretends to be a musical in the spirit of that old movie. Of course, you can make a good musical inexpensively. But in order to shoot cheap and good, you need at least professionals in the film crew. Shazell before this tape did not remove anything, but without anyone’s help decided to act as a director, personally wrote the script, and even acted as a cameraman. But he is certainly a long way from Linus Sandgren, who will later win an Oscar for his camera work on La La Land (2016). It is enough to recall in the debut the scene with the song “Love in the Fall” (" Love in the Fall) sung by a bearded kid in a huge jacket, and a similar scene from “Land” in a jazz cafe with a virtuoso camera movement and see how far the director will go in the future. In addition, simply the manner of the film does not correspond to the bright, colorful, cheerful musicals of the 50-60s. In this style, you should shoot quiet chamber dramas, not noisy and cheerful music shows.
But the music of Justin Hurwitz in the manner just corresponds. And in general, his soundtrack already allows you to see the scale of the talent of this composer. Of course, his music is still far from the level of "La La Landa" and "First Man" (2018). It's more trivial, and again, the sound is far from perfect. But later for La La Land, Hurwitz will borrow one of the tunes, and maybe more. By the way, at Harvard, Shazell and Hurwitz lived in the same room and, apparently, quickly found in each other two romantics and film fans nostalgic for the past. Maybe if they hadn’t met each other and decided to work on a joint film, they wouldn’t have linked their lives with cinema (nothing gay, just business).
In general, the director tried to breathe into his work the spirit of the wonderful musicals of “Golden Hollywood”, but, unfortunately, the load he fell on his shoulders. But for now! For the next 7 years, he did everything to realize his dream project “La La Land”; and not just to correct the mistakes of his debut, but to do something much better. He worked as a “writer for hire” and wrote the scripts for the films “Grand Finale” (2012) and “The Last Exile of the Devil: The Second Coming” (2013), directed “Observation” (2012, more accurately translated – “Under the Whip”) in the hope of receiving money for a full-length version, which he created in 2013. Thanks in large part to the film’s all-encompassing success on La La Land, the producers forked out as much as $30 million (and didn’t lose out). It is not surprising that in all the works of the director there is always a motive for moving towards a dream. Chazell knows firsthand what it is. But the merits of the debut also should not be written off: its success with critics, and in a limited box office, contributed to the formation of the young director. In my opinion, this is the main value of the film “Guy and Madeline on a bench in the park”.
4 out of 10