La La Land (2016) Review

 

La La Land (2016)

La La Land follows two dreamers, Mia and Sebastian, who fall in love through a desire to do what they love. As success mounts however, they must make a choice between their dreams and the very love that made those dreams possible in the first place. 

La La Land does something quite remarkable, that very few musicals are able to accomplish these days, and that’s the way it approaches music from a place of passion. In turn, it uses that passion to heighten the ever evolving romance between our two, star-crossed lovers in a beautiful, yet realistic fashion that in itself, rivals that of jazz music. Jazz, according to Sebastian, is spontaneous and unpredictable and that right there lays the foundation for his love with Mia, as well as how life will end up for them, as just as his views of jazz change throughout the course of the film, so too does their relationship.

Even as their love faded, both pushed each other in the direction of their dreams even after they had individually given them up, leading to both ultimately achieving said dreams, at the cost of one another however. Their success, particularly Mia’s, was attributable to their desire to see the other succeed, and so by film’s close, with those notes Mia knows all too well, a whole life of what could and probably should have been flashes before our eyes, leaving us with a sorrowful but proud acknowledgement that even though they didn’t last, their love pushed them to heights neither could have ever dreamed possible.

We get a lovely but focused cast as well, starring J.K. Simmons, John Legend, Ryan Gostling, and Emma Stone. If I needed more of a reason to love these two together, Stone and Gostling once again prove just how electric their chemistry is, as they sing, dance, and tearfully move their way into my heart, in a pair of passionately wonderful performances that will undoubtedly make you long for such a romance. 

La La Land, directed by Damien Chazelle, is an inspiring homage to old Hollywood, transporting us to a more classical time of dreams, romance, and sacrifice, and allowing us embark on a thoughtful and pragmatic journey about love and the true cost of dreams, in a city where you can only choose one.

9.4/10