La La Land: Love or Dreams?
La La Land, Damien Chazelle’s second major effort, manages to come close to the sheer perfection of Whiplash. It grabs you with its vibrant colors, incredible music, and compelling characters. Though it will make you smile, it leaves you heartbroken by the time it's over, Chazelle once again asking: Was it worth it?
Part I: "Technicolor world made out of music and machine"
La La Land has absolutely incredible cinematography. The camera movement is fluid, capturing the vibrant colors of each and every musical number or scene. Nevertheless, it knows exactly when to be still and manages to come in close with the shot when capturing every emotion on the character's faces.
The camera captures two absolutely perfect performances that deserve all the praise in the world. The way both Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling can show the right emotion, a relatable emotion, without any words, is a testament to their skill as actors. The final glance of the movie demonstrates this brilliantly, a glance that tells you everything you need to know about what each character is thinking without saying a word. Seb is perfectly charming in a way that only Gosling can be while Mia brings emotion with Stone’s own charm. The result is perfect chemistry.
To accompany this incredible cinematography and acting, La La Land has some of the best music of any movie. The modern yet nostalgic Hollywood show jazz style fits the movie’s vibe perfectly, and Justin Hurwitz gives us a jazz score that perfectly accompanies each of the songs. Each individual song is also just as good - Another Day of Sun and Someone in the Crowd are in my top of all time on Spotify. Some songs are catchy and singable while others are emotional, but all are undeniably iconic with incredible choreography as a fun bonus.
The movie has brilliant pacing that perfectly emphasizes that one’s dreams can slowly tear down one’s love for another. It takes its time to build up a believable romance which all comes crashing down in an emotionally gripping second half. The first half drags you in with the charisma, charm, and fantastic music until it starts to break you down with its realistic conflict between Mia and Seb. The final scene before the epilogue overlooking the city of LA below Griffith Observatory is then bitter sweet as the viewer remembers the good times, but also that the relationship is destined to fail.
Every single technical decision made for La La Land was the right one. From the costumes, to the colors, to the acting, to the moments of song and even silence, Chazelle crafted a movie that from a technical perspective is unmatched. All of these elements lead to the ending, which might be my favorite in all of cinema. It is an ending that takes you through a montage of impossibilities that could only happen in a dream. It is one that makes the viewer feel empty yet satisfied, comforted with the knowledge that reality was the only way.
Part II: "Here's to the ones who dream. Foolish as they may seem"
La La Land, like Whiplash, asks you a question. That question, the same one Chazelle asks in Babylon as well: Is it worth it? Was it worth it that these two people needed to sacrifice a future together to achieve their dreams? The final montage at the end of La La Land leaves the viewer to decide; would their lives be better if their mutual love was the most important thing to them?. The glance, one where Seb looks slightly up from his piano looking at Mia from the side and Mia turns around to look directly into his eyes, at the end seems to be a mutual recognition of this possibility, but the understanding that they cannot turn away from the path they chose takes over. The alternative is merely a fantasy. Should we choose our dreams over love?
To me, the montage is from Mia's perspective. It shows throughout the film that either Mia or Seb must abandon their dream for the other to succeed. It starts with Seb guiding Mia by pushing her to write her play. It then switches, Seb almost becoming a background character, his face completely hidden as he plays piano in the dim light of the restaurant. As Mia guides Seb, the sets, backgrounds, and even facial expression of background characters become increasingly artificial until the camera reaches the home footage ending where the two have a child and build a family together. An ending that could only have happened on film because Seb could never truly abandon his dream for Mia’s.
The color symbolism throughout La La Land is fascinating to me. I believe red is Seb's impact on Mia’s life, whereas blue is Mia's personal contributions to art. For example, the light is red when Mia enters the club to hear Mia and Sebastian's Theme for the first time, when Mia is dancing to jazz music in the club during the summer montage, when her and her husband pull off the highway to go to Seb's club, right before she goes on stage for her one woman show, and when you see the sign of Mia’s movie outside Seb's club. In all of these moments, Mia is being pulled or driven by Seb in some way. In contrast, the “Seb's” sign is blue, the entire club at the end is covered in blue light, the night sky in the background of her one woman show is blue, and her sweater is blue during the audition scene – all applied to the work resulting from Mia's impact. The yellows, oranges, and greens seem to be when they both stray from their dream – when they argue over dinner, when they are attending parties, or when Seb is performing for Keith's band.
The only improvement to the movie as a whole that could have been made is in some of the racial messaging in relation to jazz. For example, I find that the movie lacks some understanding of jazz’s history as a music genre, where even a few lines of self-awareness could improve this aspect drastically. Jazz does not really matter to the point of the movie though – it is more about Seb’s dream to preserve what he believes to be true jazz; not to literally “save” jazz itself. Some character development for Seb might have further improved this messaging by depicting Seb’s realization that his universal mission is futile and unnecessary.
In short, I wish the film made it more explicit that Seb is wrong about his mission; Jazz does not need a savior, but Seb can still achieve his dream by preserving what he believes to be true art in his traditionalist view.
Part III: "People Love what other people are passionate about"
La La Land means quite a lot to me. What makes it resonate with me so much is its emphasis on the importance of achieving one's dreams above anything else, something I myself try to do, even if sometimes to my own detriment and mental stability.
Seb reminds me too much of myself although I lack any of his charm. He reminds me of both the good and the bad. He reminds me of the mansplaining nerd rants, the occasional art pretentiousness (over literal Jazz), and the outrage when someone doesn't enjoy the things I am passionate about. At the same time, he reminds me of the excitement for my passions, my desire to share what I am passionate about, and my desire to see others do the same.
Mia reminds me of another part of myself: the insecurities. Like me, she thinks that maybe she isn't good enough, that maybe she isn't attractive enough, or that maybe she just does not have it in her. Maybe she can't take all of the rejection anymore. These might be insecurities that we all share, but in combination with Seb, the characters resonate with me quite a bit.
With these two characters, it is also simply a movie that ticks all of the right boxes for me. It's jazz, the genre that inspired me to create music, and a musical, an art form that reminds me of some of the people closest to me. Adding some movie magic, La La Land ends up being one of my favorite movies.
La La Land is not a romance movie. It is a follow your dreams movie. It is a film that is at the same time as magical as it is real and relatable. If you have not seen La La Land, or have not seen it since its release in 2016, I recommend spending the mere 2 hours of your day watching it. I promise you will not regret it.