Mia, an aspiring actress, serves lattes to movie stars in between auditions and Sebastian, a jazz musician, scrapes by playing cocktail party gigs in dingy bars, but as success mounts they are face...
WHAT I LIKED: Damien Chazelle's 'Whiplash' made you so nervous you could burst, but the beauty of his 'La La Land' is that it manages to play with all of your emotions. I cried, I felt empathetic for the leads, I felt reflective, but most of all I felt happy; happy that this charming film exists, and just happy with myself for being a film and music-lover in general. Yes, the sheer fact great music and beautiful filmic moments can be put together so wonderfully had me catching myself looking up frequently in proud admiration of what talent can do.
And actually, this is a film that gets you to look at yourself rather a lot. Mainly, and pretty incredibly, the way it explores people's views of the past whilst also in itself representing a thing of yesterday means you feel the themes extremely directly - in other words the affect the film's own nostalgia cards have on you make you realise what Gosling's character in particular is all about.
As for Stone's? Well her arc is about dreams just as much as Gosling's is also, and that's clearly something Chazelle is fascinated by. But don't for a moment think this is a film where the themes come at the expense of anything else, as they work organically with the characters to form genuinely poetic and beautiful arcs for them to go on. That marriage between theme and character is one of the most crucial ingredients in this kind of film, and luckily here I felt I understood the two enchanting leads right from the start. Their chemistry is magnetic, they stand on their own, and Gosling and Stone's pairing with Chazelle's genius writing and direction brings the very best out of an already-great story.
Their development is also helped by the musical elements too, and whilst this was something I was slightly concerned about going in, the arrangements work because they organically explore and further the characters, but also because they're used in the perfect moments and never overwhelm Chazelle's ever-apparent ability to deal with nervous silences. Basically though, it never feels like a cheesy excuse for a song and dance, more an ironic necessity (though I have to say the splendour of the score and choreography means I probably wouldn't have minded if it wasn't in this instance anyway).
In the end though, all this development and character enrichment builds two very dream-like characters, who yet also feel so real - which is one lucky thing, as their beautiful love story is the foundation for everything else. With that, and whilst using all the things I've talked about so far, Chazelle layers on top a brilliantly nostalgic and light-hearted tone, a visual masterpiece, a technical joy and a film that all-in-all won my heart as much as it did my mind. La La Land is an incredible yet charming movie that achieves so much so well, and if you haven't seen it, you should definitely go to the theatre and support it. Honestly it's brilliant.
WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE: Whilst its enjoyable light-hearted nature made it a real joy, there were a few moments where I felt it could have taken itself a little more seriously overall.
VERDICT: 5/5 - This encompasses so much and delivers all of it so expertly. How Damien Chazelle is already this assured frankly stumps me... what a guy, and what a beautiful movie.
