‘La La Land’ - A Film Review

A 2016 musical-romance drama movie, directed and written by Damien Chazelle. La La Land is a modern film with a classic elegant touch, putting before the story of 2 dreamers as well as lovers. Starring Ryan Gosling as Sebastian Wilder- a struggling pianist and Emma Stone as Mia Dolan an aspiring actress, The story is set in Los Angeles: The city of dreams and revolves around how the two fall in love while attempting to reconcile their aspirations for the future.

‘La La Land’ (2016) available on Netflix and Prime Video

From the director of Whiplash, La La Land is a spectacle dazzling musical masterpiece. It has won a total of 6 Academy Awards and was nominated for 14 Academy Awards, moreover it also received numerous other Awards and nominations. Al these justify the saying that "They don't make films like this anymore" as mentioned in trailer of the movie.

La La Land is a beautiful film about love and dreams, and how the two impact eachother. The movie has a sort of predictable plot, still it has too much to see. In fact the truth is the director wants to share his idea by showcasing in the film, his idea specifically to dreamers who dream, who chase their passion and in the course of chasing their dream they loose hopes in the end when things seem to be not working out rightly, they give up.The director reject and disapprove this belief of dreamers and all this has been shown in a magnificent manner.

The movie opens with a scene where number of cars are stuck in notoriously awful L.A. traffic and drivers decide to break into a song - Another Day of Sun which represent and relate about how each day brings a new hope for these wannabe artists in L.A. The long unbroken takes and zestful choreography from here and throughout the film makes it clear for audience that the movie is filled with such zeal and catchy music.

Seb in the movie is a purist and an uncompromiser, a difficult guy to get to know or like. He is lonely and unhappy just playing rope-a-dope with life and fate, though he is obsessed and concern for jazz music which according to him is dying. Seb is fired from a restaurant, where the manager is enraged by his tendency to favour brilliant free-jazz improvisations instead of the tinkling background music he gets paid for. But it is here, again, that Seb meets Mia, and then again at a party, where Seb has humiliatingly got a gig playing synth in an 80s-style band.

Seb and Mia start to see similarities in one another. Mia is tired of going on worthless auditions, ones in which the producer doesn't even look up from their phone. Sebastian holds on to an ideal version of jazz, wanting to open his own club instead of selling out and playing greatest hits for tourists. And so Sebastian and Mia have a clear, instant attraction.

It's easy to let the world get you down sometimes,It's easy to think that dreams don't come true, and that love only exists in movies."La La Land" serves to remind us that movies can still be magical, and they can still provide the channel for us to see magic in the world around us. We have seen dozens of films that try to capture the allure of Hollywood, often with the cynical viewpoint that it will chew you up and spit you out, but Chazelle's vision feels unique.

Every technical element in the film deserves mention as well as appreciation;

• Lighting: The lighting plus colours used and shown in the film were ahead of the their time. Amazing Vibrant colours were used in almost every scene of the movie which feels like feast to the eyes. There are scenes in which slowly and steadily the lights in the frame start to dim and a soft spotlight focuses on subject while no other source of light in the frame, the moment it happens, the movie starts to feel magical with every second passing. Overall quite warm and saturated colours are used throughout the film.

• Camera movement: The cinematography and camera movement in the film are no doubt charismatic. The frames in the movie feels like live canvas. Moreover, camera movements - cinematography and music are personally 3 most favourite part of mine in the movie. Just for instance, the cinematography in the song “Someone in the crowd” seems so soaring- the way they shot it - the way it ended i.e how time gets slow and camera pulls out steadily which blends with the slow to fast music, this transition from slow pulling out to fast revolution is incredibly mystical.

• Editing: Every transition in the movie is meticulous and that of course is due its perfectly done Editing. There are supernatural long tapes of dance sequences in the film which unfold seamlessly creating an uninterrupted experience. Overall frenetic fast paced scenes are edited in a way, that it comes out to look flawless.

• Sound design: The movie has certainly iconic as well as soothing music without any question. There is nothing much to say about it except just to feel it by yourself. Just to illustrate little, the theme track of movie which plays in "planetarium" scene is like otherworldly. Watching it might literally take you to another galaxy.

• Costume design: The film's costumes are an important part of film aesthetic, which ultimately reflects the film's themes. In the case of movie La La Land, the main characters, Mia and Sebastian, have distinct and recognisable dressing sense which helps to define their personalities. Mia's costumes are more feminine, vintage-inspired often with a touch of whimsy and fantasy, which. reflects her dreamy and aspiring actress personality. While Sebastian's costumes are more classic, and. evoke the look of a jazz musician of the 1950s and 1960s, which reflects his passionate and driven side.

• Set design: Major part of movie is set in L.A. in contrary to which, the production design captures the vibrant and diverse atmosphere of the city. Throughout the movie the sets are decent, but a special mention as well as praise to Epilogue scenes which winds up the film along with presenting an alternate ending, an ending to which the audience realise lot of stuff, things which will trigger many intellectuals. But things can be subjective, for few it can be the essence of life, though for some it could be a predictable ending.

Consolidating the importance aspects of film, the movie La La Land is worth watching. Although with such subtle basic plot, it still has capable powerful storyline. Mark down as 8/10 IMBD rating and 94% Metascore the movie is an absolute musical masterpiece.

Review by: Aamir Siddiqui