Hollywood has been fascinated with the musical genre ever since movies have been made. Audiences could go to the theater and escape into a song and dance world where they would be entertained and just have fun with. As the genre has evolved, there has become more of a connection between the storyline and the songs at hand. So when "La La Land" came along, it proved that one could enjoy, not only the song and dance, but the storyline as well.
Mia (Emma Stone), an aspiring actress in Los Angeles, serves lattes to movie stars in between auditions and Sebastian (Ryan Gosling), a jazz musician, scrapes by playing cocktail party gigs in dingy bars. They subsequently meet and start a whirlwind romance as they continue to pursue their dreams. But as success mounts, they are faced with decisions that begin to fray the fragile fabric of their love affair, and the dreams they worked so hard to maintain in each other threaten to rip them apart. Will they end up another statistic like so many other successful people end up or are they completely committed to each in spite of the friction involved?
Others to round out the cast are John Legend as Keith, another musician, Rosemarie DeWitt as Laura, J.K. Simmons as Bill, a boss of Sebastian's, Finn Whittrock as Greg, Josh Pence as Josh, Miles Anderson as Alistair, a photographer, Tom Everett Scott as David, Valarie Rae Miller as Amy Brandt and Damon Gupton as Harry.
This was whimsically and wistfully directed by Damien Chazelle ("Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench" '09, "Whiplash" '14) plus a short. As "Whiplash" was a fresh, concise, well paced and staged film, this film was treated with the same technique. This is a musical with a fantastical side to it that, not only worked well, but actually enhanced the production. It was also well written by Chazelle ("Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench" '09, "The Last Exorcism Part II" '13, "Grand Piano" '13, "Whiplash" '14, "10 Cloverfield Lane" '16). This writer knows how to take a subject matter and give it that shot in the arm so as to make it fresh, and seemingly more original than it very well might be otherwise. "Whiplash" was an incredibly well-crafted film, which I believe surprised many people. This film surely will do the same thing. Choreography is key to any musical and this being choreographed by Mandy Moore ("Silver Linings Playbook" '12, "American Hustle" '13, "Sleeping with Other People" '15, "Joy" '15), it was amazing. First frame of the film, we see drivers in bumper to bumper traffic. All of a sudden, a driver starts singing, gets out of her car a dances toward other cars, then other drivers get out of their cars and start singing and dancing, singing about another day with sun in LA. And when the number ends, it ends abruptly and the title of the film is emblazoned on the screen. What a way to start a film! The photography, editing and music and lyrics are all incredible. It was enough to encourage me to want the soundtrack.
Whether the musical genre is your cup of tea or not, this film has something for all to revel in. The well panned photography tightly edited with the choreography, the crisp writing and directing will give its audience that good feeling because of the sheer escape factor involved.
Out of 4 Stars: 4 Rated: PG-13 127mins.
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