La La Land (2016)
“I’m letting life hit me until it gets tired. Then i’ll hit it back. It’s a classic rope-a-dope.” – Sebastian
La La Land (2016)
Directed by: Damien Chazelle
Written by: Damien Chazelle
Starring: Ryan Gosling, Emma Stone, JK Simmons
Damien Chazelle’s La La Land emphasises that dramatic musicals (…and narcissism) are by no means a dying genre within Hollywood, winning an impressive 6 Academy Awards in 2017. This included an Oscar for Best Director for Chazelle (youngest recipient of the award in Academy history), and a statue for Best Female Actress going to Emma Stone. Whilst many detractors claim that these awards were the result of self-indulgence by the Academy (the movie does focus on a romanticised Hollywood, after-all), these criticisms are ill-founded, and I believe La La Land is a unique, thoughtful movie that explores more than just the Hollywood of today.
The movie follows the story arcs of two talented artists trying to make it big in ‘La La Land’ – a place that, for most creative types, is just that – a fictional fantasy land that very few are able to enter, let alone conquer. Mia (Stone) is an actress trying to land her big break. Fuelled by her ambition, she splits time between unsuccessful auditions and her job as a barista on the Warner Brothers lot (cruel, I know). Beginning to lose hope, but shackled by her childhood dream, Mia’s path is significantly altered when she runs into Seb (Gosling), a similarly ambitious but unsuccessful Jazz pianist. Spurred by their mutual creative aspirations, the two form an unlikely friendship, and attempt to navigate Hollywood’s precarious pitfalls together.
This relationship serves as the catalyst for the two major themes in the movie – human ambition, or “following your dream”, as it is so often referred to, and the importance of fate, or luck. For instance, Mia and Seb wrestle with the idea of a having a concrete ‘dream’ – can somebody change their dream? What does this say about them? This concept is more playfully broached when Mia sarcastically describes a TV show she auditioned for as a “Dangerous Minds meets The OC”, but upon receiving a call-back, alters her outlook and claims it’s “more like Rebel Without a Cause”. More broadly, La La Land explores what we perceive our purpose to be in life, and how coincidental friendships, interactions, and decisions can alter our journey to whatever our ‘dream’ ends up being. In fact, the concept of fate, and ‘opening one door and closing another’ rears its ugly head so often in the film it can get somewhat repetitive.
These messages are communicated through compelling dialogue interspersed with beautiful musical numbers (look out for the John Legend cameo), with picturesque Los Angeles landmarks as the background. The musical numbers hark back to the golden age of Hollywood, and even if musicals aren’t your thing, try telling me you didn't want to learn an instrument after watching La La Land.
Having starred opposite one another in Crazy, Stupid, Love (2011) and Gangster Squad (2014), Stone and Gosling once again exhibit effortless chemistry. In fact, their interaction is so consuming, it’s easy to forget how small the cast is without further reflection. This is another one of Chazelle’s great triumphs in La La Land – by focussing so intently on the two leads, he is able to explore the grander of our personal ambitions and fears – desire, love, purpose, success, failure – in much greater detail. With these themes intermittently dotted throughout the film, La La Land causes you to reflect on how your personality was formed, how you would act in similar situations, and why you make the decisions you do (deep, I know).
As such, La La Land is part therapy session, part musical, part comedy, part tragedy. The wonderful duo of Gosling and Stone make this a must watch.
Rating: 8.5/10