La La Land Movie Review

It's another day of sun, just another day of sun...

Damien Chazelle, the director and writer of La La Land, first hit the film festival circuit in 2013 with his critically acclaimed short film Whiplash. Though a well-received, feature length version of the script (penned by Chazelle himself) was making the rounds to excited studio heads, the film was never actually green-lit by a studio until the short was nominated for an Academy Award. The next year, Whiplash (the version lasting 107 minutes) took the globe by storm, with stunning performances from both Miles Teller and J.K.Simmons. It was then that Chazelle was 'allowed' to start production on La La Land, the film having been very loosely based on his debut (entitled Guy and Madeleine on a Park Bench, also a musical) and inspired by the Golden Age of Hollywood's stars and stories. It is the symbol of the star which best encompasses La La Land I suppose, with not only the musical's breakout number alluding to their glamour ('City of Stars'), but almost every reviewer awarding the film five of them.

Let us begin, then, with the character of Sebastian (pictured above) whose portrayal by Ryan Gosling was as nuanced as it was raw. An instantly endearing personality, Sebastian's enthusiasm for the art-form of Jazz is played out to perfect effect in a strength that underpins the entire film. While Stone's character harks back to the golden glamour of the Hollywood age, Gosling offers an enchanting rendition of the Gene Kelly archetype, modernized for the current era. Emotionally open, charmingly geeky and as good of a singer/dancer as he is at acting, Ryan Gosling (along with La La Land as a whole) will undoubtedly reach the revered status in the industry he has so many times proven he deserves.

As the film alludes, you cannot discuss Sebastian without referencing Mia, and it is Emma Stone's rendition of the character and on-screen chemistry with Gosling which arguably makes La La Land as magical as it is. It would be unfair too to suggest that Mia's character is merely the 'female counterpart' to Gosling's performance. It is through Mia that the surprisingly powerful emotion of the film is harnessed to a staggering effect. Her character is instantly likable, and Mia fills the Cinemascope (yes, Cinemascope!) screen with a sparkling electricity simply lacking in the age of the cinematic universe and blockbuster. 

Chazelle, Stone and Gosling have, quite powerfully, captured the radiance and dazzle of the seemingly antiquated Hollywood musical, and as a massive film fan myself I had to at many times realize how special seeing a film of this caliber in 2017 actually is. It is perhaps ironic that a film paying homage to the classics of the past seems to reinvigorate the so-called "Oscar genre", today populated by bio-pics, stories of civil rights movements and of the two World Wars. Don't get me wrong, some of the most important and acclaimed films of all time fit into these categories, but many in the industry (I'm looking at you, Harvey Weinstein) have successfully 'hacked' the various Hollywood guilds with some cookie-cutter, Oscar-bait films which seem forced and stale. La La Land proves that cinematic art can also be a comedy, a musical, a romance...

It is worth highlighting, however, the film's other two stars: it's music and it's cinematography. Occasionally kitsch, the backgrounds and framing of La La Land are brimming with nostalgia for the past. The painted backdrops of the 1930's return in a wink-and-nudge to classic film fans during various sequences through the film, referring to the ones on which Chazelle took inspiration. The film's historical eloquence is not just confined to surface-level satisfaction, however. At one point, for example, the characters move beyond their assigned backdrop and head 'off-stage' in an exploratory epilogue that undeniably reaches the pinnacle of the film's artistic power. It is this whimsical presentation of (minor spoilers ahead - skip to the next paragraph to miss them!) Mia and Seb's romance that really proves Chazelle's cinematic prowess. In an almost Brechtian sensibility, it is the golden-age's, propaganda-esque theme that gives La La Land, arguably a bitter-sweet tragedy, the story-telling strength it possesses.

La La Land, though, is as much of a treat to the ears as it is to the eyes and the heart. The music hangs on a selection of a three of four distinct but soothing jazz melodies which reoccur and build across the film - each musical number framed around them. This avoids the sometimes clunky and interfering presence of songs that bad musicals endure. Instead, the music reoccurs throughout La La Land with such graceful majesty that you cannot have one with out the other. The music does not accompany the plot, it is the plot.

As has been made clear, La La Land is, in my opinion, a modern masterpiece which captures the essence and appeal of Hollywood's Gone with the Wind era, today; Chazelle seems to defy time itself with a film that is moving, nuanced and oh so joyous to behold. La La Land fits in perfectly with the likes of The Wizard of Oz, Singing in the Rain and Les Parapluies des Cherbourg (the latter being the famous French musical that Chazelle claims as one of his favorites). When the only minor adjustment you can ask of a film is that you wished you lived inside it, it is then that you may just have stumbled across subjective perfection.

City of stars, see them shining just for you...

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Written by James Green