La La La Review

From Damien Chazelle, director of Whiplash and Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench, comes his third critically acclaimed movie about jazz music, La La Land. La La Land is a romantic musical which tells the story of Mia, an aspiring actress played by Emma Stone, and Sebastian, a struggling jazz musician played by Ryan Gosling, two people with big dreams and few successes. They have a few chance meetings and eventually fall in love largely due to the passion each sees in the other for what they are striving for in life. However, as they are forced to make tough decisions and compromises in their relationship, the dreams they worked so hard to achieve begin to fall apart.

This all compounds to an excellent conclusion where, spoiler alert, they show how the whole plot could have been changed had the characters made different decisions throughout a fantastic and elaborate musical number. This leaves you satisfied and stunned as you you leave the theater. Terrific performances were given by the entire cast, both musically and emotionally. Gosling and Stone have excellent chemistry and both portray their character with wit, charm, and emotion. The music is also beautiful and effective. From emotionally devastating ballads to upbeat, jazzy productions, the music is consistently impressive.

However, one of La La Land’s greatest achievements is its cinematography, for which it won an Oscar. The film is visually stunning and portrays the direction of the film perfectly in every scene, whether realistic or surreal. La Land is a clear homage to classic 50’s musicals like Singing in the Rain and Gigi. This can be seen best during the musical sequences, but this inspiration can be seen in more obscure places such as Chazelle’s use of color to portray characters’ emotions and draw your attention. This was a tactic used by many early filmmakers like Vincente Minnelli. However this is by no means a carbon copy of 50’s musicals, on the contrary. In fact, one of the most impressive things about the film is how it effortlessly dances back and forth between the styles of classic musicals and modern ones (see A Lovely Night versus Start a Fire). The stark transitions between these two very different styles is made to feel natural and smooth. La La Land, which never explicitly states when it is set, feels like it takes place in a world where the 1950’s are taking place in 2017. I could not praise this film more.

It, like any other film, has its flaws, but they are miniscule compared to its achievements and critics seem to agree. La La Land made a strong showing at the Academy Awards and the Golden Globes. It is now tied with Titanic and All About Eve for having the most Oscar nominations (fourteen), it won six (almost seven) Oscars and six Golden Globes. Now, La La Land isn't for everybody, I don't expect it to win over the Michael Bay or Adam Sandler audiences any time soon, but I can not recommend it more. If you have not seen it yet, I encourage you to watch it. It is a unique, funny, romantic, charming, and captivating film, a true modern classic.