La La Land: A Musical that Makes You Happy
Writer/director Damien Chazelle has gained quite a bit of prominence over the past couple of years. His compelling musical drama, “Whiplash” was one of my favorite films of the decade. You could tell that Chazelle had a personal anecdote that he wanted to share for his first official studio film. By putting this out to the public, it paved the way for studios to believe in his next movie, “La La Land.” The best way to describe this is, a musical that makes you happy.
“La La Land” is a musical experience on cinema that follows the love story of Sebastian (Ryan Gosling) and Mia (Emma Stone), and how each of their dreams effects their relationship. With numerous Oscar talks, as well as seven Golden Globe nominations already, this seems to be one of the more respected films of the year.
Honestly, it was probably one of the happiest movies that I’ve ever seen. By not being a fan of musicals, I was surprised about how much I enjoyed this experience. Chazelle did an excellent job in creating a fun filled musical performance, while keeping it grounded at the same time. He rarely felt the need to make it unrealistic despite the fact that it was a super positive film.
This film could have been a mess. Anytime someone makes a musical, people aren’t sure whether or not the filmmaker can create something that’s genuine but in a musical fashion. Chazelle did it fantastically. The movie was rarely boring. By starting off with a huge dance number at the beginning of the film, the fans got a sense of what the movie was going to be about. We saw this again at the end of the film where we get a vision of what a perfect life is considered to be.
Technically, I think that Chazelle is one of the best directors of our generation. At 31 years old, his ability to move the camera professionally is mesmerizing. He is the one person that can create an exciting movie out of a boring one just by his technical ability. Not many filmmakers can do that nowadays. He also mixes in old cinema with a present day touch which is nice.
The stars of the film, Gosling and Stone, did a marvelous job in expressing their talents on the big screen. Unlike the Science Fiction film, “Passengers,” both of these characters had beautiful chemistry. I was smiling every time both of them were performing in some way whether it was singing or dancing. Chazelle did a great job casting both Stone and Gosling because Stone had experience in Broadway, and Gosling learned the piano pretty quickly. This helped with the overall quality of the film.
The great deal of comedy was a nice addition to each of the plot points. You could tell that Chazelle was trying to create an almost perfect musical. For me, I think he came close to that. The score was pretty amazing, and the recurrence of the song, “City of Stars” was just a beautiful addition to the soundtrack.
The one problem that I had if I were to pick one is, the sudden tone change halfway through when Stone and Gosling were caught in a heated argument. I felt like both characters changed just for that scene, and it was really the only dis-ingenuine part of the whole movie.
All in all, 2016 was the year of revivals. From coming of age dramas, to musicals, and plays translated to cinema, it has been an impressive year. “La La Land” will be one of the most memorable films of the year, and will definitely be in Oscar talks. Anyone who appreciates cinema should go out and witness this masterpiece.
