La La Land

Year: 2016
Genre: Musical
Directed: Damien Chazelle
Stars: Ryan Gosling, Emma Stone, John Legend, Rosemarie DeWitt, J.K. Simmons, Finn Wittrock, Tom Everett Scott, Meagen Fay, Damon Gupton, Jason Fuchs, Sonoya Mizuno, Callie Hernandez
Production: Black Label Media

I grew up on musicals. My mother, the pragmatic, working professional that she is, would often take the time to instill in me a love for good music, good food, and good movies. I called her the night I saw La La Land. I called her to tell her I loved her and thanked her for raising me.

La La Land is about as thematically distinct to my sentiments as you can get. It's the seemingly simple story of two struggling neophytes turned lovers, pursuing their dreams in the glimmering monolith that is Los Angeles. Mia (Stone), is an aspiring actress whose constant auditions and casting calls have landed her a part-time job at a studio coffee shop. Sebastian (Gosling) on the other hand, is a talented pianist who can't seem to keep regular gigs due to his insistence that his work has some semblance of purity. They meet - they fall in love - and over the course of a year they conflict, compromise, excite, motivate and adore each other for the messes they are.

Director Damien Chazelle initially studied to become a jazz drummer in his youth. that's a biographical detail that makes a lot of sense when viewing his sophomore directorial effort Whiplash (2014), which was one of the biggest critical and commercial successes of the last decade. What translates to La La Land (other than a love of jazz) is a sense of timing. The score, the cinematography, the choreography all simmer and pop with lively syncopation. The visual references are quick to recall Young Girls of Rochefort (1967) but the timing - the timing is pure, delirious montage filmmaking.

As our two stars, Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone are an organic recreation of the quintessential Hollywood coupling. They shared the screen only twice before, making Crazy, Stupid Love. (2011) into the underrated romantic classic that it is, and making Gangster Squad (2013) watchable. Here however, the story, the characterizations, indeed the very frames the film rests on are made lovingly for them. Any boy do they ever runaway with this film. Both ooze pure starlight from their pores and ally ever so perfectly with La La Land's master thesis.

And what is La La Land's master thesis? Well in an interview with The Guardian, Chazelle briefly spoke about "the struggle of being an artist and reconciling your dreams with the need to be human." Wanting to create something in the vogue of a golden age Hollywood musical, Chazelle stated that he wanted something "more grounded in reality." It is that central tension that drives the plot in La La Land, and does so in new and surprising ways with both Mia and Sebastian struggling to plug in the expectations of others into their artistic mission. Both are motivated to compromise, both are willing to commit, and we as the audience cherish the idea they'll find their way in the end.

La La Land, more than being a feast for the eye and a virtual smorgasbord of visual homages, is a film for the heart. A crowded theater cannot help but erupt in laughter, tears and applause when faced with a film spirited enough to be sincere. It's all even more awe inspiring when you consider the camera stops and fauns over real singing, real dancing and real piano playing on the part of Mr. Gosling.

La La Land is a delight - a wonder, a superb and significant film that has the moxie to fill any heart with joy and the originality to make it all stick. Much like my own mother, La La Land is audacious in its ability to capture the imagination with a poise and class that simply cannot be matched. It left me with a renewed sense of hope and a song in my heart and here's to hoping it does the same for you.

Final Grade: A