demi adejuyigbe’s review published on Letterboxd:
also, i'm writing this here because i truly don't know where else to put it, but: i don't really get some of the controversy surrounding this film. warning: i'm talkin about race, baby. (so beat it if you're just gonna write "blugghh stop making race important")
in terms of "white people talking about jazz," sure, that's not GREAT but i don't know if i'd call it or chazelle racist. his first film went under the radar and was about a black jazz trumpeteer, so it's not like he's solely making his career about white people talking jazz. and gosling's portrayal of a jazz fan in this film seems to flip back and forth between "he's right" and "he's going overboard," as i don't really think john legend's stance on jazz or musical take on jazz is supposed to be "he's wrong and this is bad jazz." i think gosling considering himself a jazz purist is supposed to be a bit eye-rolly, and both his & legend's take on jazz are supposed to be right, but only for themselves.
in terms of "no people of color in los angeles"- that's straight up wrong! one of the first things my friend remarked to me upon leaving the theatre the first time we saw it was about how colorful the cast was, which she reneged on after reading about the controversy surrounding it. i don't think that's fair– after seeing the movie 8 or so (i know, i know) times, i'm still well struck by how colorful the cast is, outside of the main two characters. almost every speaking and musical role that isn't the main two characters is a person of color, and the first voices we hear in the film are those of a south asian woman and a hispanic man, in a wildly diverse opening dance number. the third most important person in the cast after stone and gosling is john legend, and the only other "main" characters are j.k. simmons (cast as a cameo bc of his relationship with the director) and rosemarie dewitt (cause a white lady is the easiest to portray as sister to a white guy. this /could've/ been a person of a different race, true.) i'm not so warm to the idea that a movie starring two white people is at fault for not making one of them non-white, if that's the take on why it's bad at representation. i think if the movie had an ensemble main cast featuring nothing but white people, then yeah that'd be a bit suspect.
i feel strange finding myself in a position to defend a movie's representation when the leads of a film truly are two white people. obviously i would've been elated to see a version of la la land where the leading roles showcase some sort of diversity, but i don't know that i'm yet so comfortably woke that i'd think of two main characters /not/ being white as a sign that it's racist/problematic.
now, whiplash? maaaaaaybe could've used more diversity. who knows. but it's a hella good movie and i love too watch a boy bang on drums, so