La La Land Review

Like the western the Hollywood musical is a dying genre but it's also a genre I really love. When I saw the trailer for La La Land I got really excited. Here was a decidedly old school looking musical coming from a young new director recently nominated for an Oscar. The movie didn't disappoint...

     La La Land is directed by Damien Chazzelle and stars Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling. It tells the story of Mia (Stone), an aspiring actress, and Sebastian (Gosling), a jazz musician who dreams of opening his own club, the two meet and bond over their mutual refusal to give up there dreams. But their love for each other is tested as their pursual of these dreams starts to pull them apart.

     Though I didn't have the best theater going experience with La La Land (I had to sit in the front row and the acoustics really weren't the best) it still grabbed me from the opening number. We see a bunch of cars stuck in busy LA morning traffic. All of a sudden a young girl gets out of her car and begins singing the opening number. Immediately I can tell the kind of movie I'm about to watch. Chazzelle intended the film as a homage to creative people who chase their dreams. He drew inspiration from classic Hollywood musicals and from the films of Jacques Demy, most known for his musical The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (which I was previously unfamiliar with but now kinda want to check out).

     My favorite scene happens fairly early in the film. In it Sebastian takes Mia to a Jazz club and explains to her why its an amazing and underappreciated musical genre. Jazz plays a big a role in this film and, in many ways it provides a contrast (thematically) with the more optimistic elements of the story. Life, like jazz, is, after all, complex and not every story has a happy fairy tale ending.

     The musical numbers are all quite good. The lyrics by Pasek and Paul are clever and help to reinforce character while Justin Hurwitz's Jazz infused instrumental evoke classic Hollywood while also venturing into more melancholy territory at times. They're fairly well integrated into the narrative, although one scene did take me out of the movie for minute, and they serve the story and characters. Gosling and Stone can both sing and dance surprisingly well and put a lot of passion into their performances. Both actors drew from their experiences early in their acting careers. Chazzelle's direction is superb effortlessly blending scenes of lighthearted fancy with ones of real dramatic pathos.

     La La Land is a a fitting tribute to those who dream, a classy throwback to old musicals, and love letter to jazz and the city of Los Angeles. It's easily one of my favorite films of 2016.

Score: 9/10