Exams were stacking up on me this week so I figured it was time to rewatch one of my favorite movies ever: La La Land. I’m not sure what the game plan was; maybe I thought being willingly emotionally crushed would help me succeed in some odd way. Nonetheless I went through the movie and it was as perfectly devastating as ever.
I want this post to be less of a summary or a review and more of a love letter to one of my favorite movies ever detailing everything that makes it beautiful. This movie is the first movie I ever saw that I would consider perfect and I plan to list everything that makes it perfect throughout this post.
The Colors and Cinematography
La La Land as the name suggests harbors this almost dreamlike happy state for the first 2 acts of the movie. From the second this movie opens the viewer is exposed to vibrant colors specifically in character’s clothing and the backdrops. Damien Chazelle’s artistic style has become much more clear since La La Land specifically with his grand showing of colors in Babylon as well. Chazelle is a true artist that pops color in specific scenes so well to add to the dreamlike happy state in the beginning. This movie in particular pops a lot of yellow and purple (maybe a play on the Lakers since the movie is about LA). The purple and pink skies all throughout the movie as well as the planetarium evokes emotions I can’t quite explain and makes the film so dear to my heart. Chazelle is a master of using colors to evoke emotion in this film and that is a huge reason why I believe this is a perfect movie.
The Music
Damien Chazelle’s love for music is not a secret. Every movie he’s made has had an outstanding score but none of them quite compare to La La Land both in the songs the characters sing and the music. On this watch in particular the second I heard Mia and Sebastian’s theme early in the movie I just got hit with this wave of despair. Even the most subtle of piano notes in the background contributes to the emotion dreamlike state of the movie so well. Justin Hurwitz did amazing with the instrumental music throughout the movie and is part of the reason why it is such a cult classic. Adding on to the Academy winning instrumental music the random busting out in song part of the musical was just as good. I find myself listening to Another Day of Sun in the car randomly to get me started in the morning all the time. Me and my friends can sing every lyric of What a Waste of a Lovely Night and City of Stars; the music is that good that it leaves its imprint on grown men.
Besides the fact that the music is iconic, the whole movie is based around love for jazz music and I think that is such a major part of the film’s success. Jazz is America’s classical music and one of the easiest to encapsulate an audience because of it’s deep history and various forms. The various forms of jazz was actually a huge plot point within the movie because of Sebastian compromising his love for free jazz for some sort of fusion jazz music with the band and how that affected his life. On that note, John Legend is also amazing in the scenes he has and is a super cool addition to the movie. Chazelle’s overall passion for the genre and for the music in general is why this movie is a transcendent experience and why it has hit the heights it has.
The Story
I consider stories to be the most important aspect of a movie. You could have the best A-list actors, the greatest musical score, or the prettiest cinematography but if you don’t have the story to go along with it you are just a generational box office flop. La La Land has everything I just mentioned plus the amazing story to accompany it.
I think part of the beauty about this film is that it has all of the magical aspects I discussed above but the characters are extremely human and make mistakes throughout the film. The characters and the love story itself is flawed and so human which makes it so much better. Even the dreamiest of love stories don’t always work out the way we hoped because at the end of the day we are human. We make mistakes. The story doesn’t start out with a meet-cute or end with a beautiful reunification at the cost of everybody around them. That is what makes this film perfect. In the middle of everything we think the world should be, we are still human and not everything is meant to be. The whole first two acts set you up to thinking this will be a magical love story driven by passion for each other and their crafts but that is not the case.
That is why this movie is so special; things don’t always work out magically. This result resonates with peoples emotions so much more than if it was another love story. The acting by Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling is so realistic and amazing that you really fall in love with these characters both as individuals and as a couple. Unfortunately this was another one of Chazelle’s your passions are not worth sacrificing your life over movies. Similar to Whiplash (2014) music gets in the way of Mia and Sebastian and they can not see eye to eye on things anymore. The relationship ultimately falters while they chase their individual passions and I think in a way that is more beautiful than the happily ever after love ending. If you love somebody enough you will let them go so they can achieve their dreams. That type of sacrifice is the ultimate show of love and the reason there were tears in my eyes (for the third time this year on this movie) before my exams.
Final Thoughts
I described this movie to my friend as knowing you are watching a pure piece of art the same way you would know looking at paintings in the Louvre. This movie has such a beautiful premise and execution that you get transported to the world of La La Land when you watch and it is a gripping journey the whole way. “I will always love you” is a quote from this movie that I would use to describe my thoughts towards it and I can’t wait until the day where I feel like watching it for the 4th time this year. Here’s to the fools who dream.
