La La Land is a musical extravaganza set in the heart of Los Angeles, focusing on the lives of two aspiring dreamers who meet and fall in love. Damien Chazelle, director of 2014’s brillian Whiplash delivers a fresh, fun, exciting, heartbreaking, and delightful musical that is by far the best fillm of the year. La La Land packs the emotion and feel of dreams and those who aspire to make a name for themselves, and a beautiful love story is crafted in a film where mainly two characters fill up the screen time and enchant us through every moment.
Postives:
Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone as Sebastian and Mia:
Ryan Gosling plays Sebastian, a jazz enthusiast who wants to open his own jazz club one day. Emma Stone plays Mia, an aspiring actress who feels weighed down by her multiple audition fails. While one continues to try to live his dream, the other slowly facades from it. But together, they motivate one another to be the best at what they want to do and a beautiful chemistry is born on the screen. Gosling and Stone are touching, funny, and break your heart through every scene of this film. Their dance choreograpgy is as fun as it is charming, their singing and Gosling’s musical talent are extraordinary, and their moments of drama and emotion are some of the best scenes of the year. These two are a delight to watch.
Damien Chazelle’s Direction and the look of La La Land:
In only his 2nd directorial film, Chazelle has crafted a beautiful looking film. The mise en scene and the cinematography of this film is pure eye candy and fantastic. Every production design mixed with the costumes and lighting make for a perfect homage and unique originality to the feel of the film, making La La Land a true spectacle experience.
The Musical Numbers:
From the opening musical number that is a one shot masterpiece depicting diversity and culture in L.A traffic to the more somber pieces with beautiful songs like “City of Stars” and “Audition” every piece is powerful and provides a level of energy and sheer awe. Much work was done to put every sequence together perfectly, and there’s simply no flaws to be found in each musical piece of the film.
Emma Stone’s Final Ballad:
Emma Stone was already fantastic but then we get the scene. The scene that put her full talent on display in a 2-3 minute story that sums up the movie’s ideology of dreams and those who aspire to try and try again to accomplish everything they ever wanted. It’s beautiful, sad, powerful and will reach a core with anyone who has ever felt like giving up on their dream, only to keep fighting to reach that full potential.
The Final Musical Piece:
As if other moments of La La Land weren’t already touching, we are left with a final instrumental number that breaks and mends the heart simultaneously. It’d be a spoiler to say what it’s about, but there’s a message stating that sometimes when we get we want in life, we sometimes don’t get we really want. Sometimes life involves sacrifice, even if that sacrifice is something most dear to you. But it’s the temporary moments of failure, love, and motivation that leads to our eventual dreams being made, and so as long as we remind ourselves of who and what is responsible for making us who we are today, we can continue living our dream and be more appreciative of everything that came before it.
Final Grade: A++