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When I first watched La La Land (2016), I couldn’t make it past the first scene. The film opens with a big song and dance performance on a highway as random strangers come together to sing about their dreams of success in Hollywood, a running theme in the film. As a massive fan of musicals, from Hamilton to Les Miserables, I had extremely high hopes for the musical numbers in La La Land, considering it’s potential as a mainstream and high budget movie, and through the involvement of the casting of Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling and also because I completely loved director Damien Chazelle’s previous work of art Whiplash (2014).
However, when I first encountered the opening song ‘Another Day of Sun’ I was heavily disappointed, finding the song too flashy and fake to the point I turned the film off. I was not a massive fan of mainstream films in the first place, finding them to be unchallenging and repetitive. Moreover, I assumed the film just followed the romance between Mia and Seb, which it partially does but I failed to see the bigger theme in the film and it was only after I was able to study film, did I finally understand and appreciate what Chazelle was trying to achieve.
Whilst the film does revolve around Mia and Seb’s romance, the film also focuses on the nostalgic look back on the magic of film making of Golden Age musicals. The film uses long takes and iris swipes and is filled with constant intertextuality from the classics. For example, when Seb swings round the lamppost like in Singing in the Rain (1952), or the massive poster of Ingrid Bergman above Mia’s bedroom wall and the mention of the window at the Warner’s Studio lots from Casablanca (1942), and the fact Mia and Seb watch Rebel without a Cause (1955) in the Rialto Theatre that is not even open in the present day to eventually going to the Griffith Observatory, a location in the film and not to mention Mia and Seb’s mirroring of Fred Astaire and Ginger Roger’s iconic dancing in Swing Time (1936), Chazelle shows his love for how movies used to be made. If you have enjoyed classic Golden Age Cinema, then you’ll love searching for the hidden signs and actions of the cast that mirror famous films from that era.
Even without understanding the intertextuality, viewers can enjoy the beautiful visual aesthetics of the film, once I’d pushed past the first five minutes, the first thing I noticed was the vibrancy and magical aura of the LA Chazelle represents. The music improves too, whilst I am still not a fan of ‘Another Day of Sun’, La La Land’s other soundtrack cues, such as Mia and Seb’s addictive and magical theme and ‘City of Stars’ proves the soundtrack isn’t half bad. The visual and soundtrack cues lift audiences out of their everyday lives and into the magic of LA where dreams are made: musicals are typically known for its escapism. This film can give viewers an easy watch of the struggles of two people as they search for love and success and can be enjoyed by all demographics.
One of the film’s theme focuses on the aspiration for success, following Mia as she desperately searches for stardom as an actress and Seb whose passion for old school jazz drives him to want to bring back the jazz he believes is being lost. Whilst these aspirations are a message for people to never give up on their dreams, there were issues in the way Chazelle represents these dreams. For example, my main criteria for the film is the fact the Chazelle uses a white male to bring back the typically African American genre of jazz, tagging him as some sort of ‘white saviour’ whilst his Black counterparts are represented as the sell outs. Moreover, in a feminist perspective, Mia’s mostly passive role as the viewer, as she is seen multiple times watching Seb perform whilst there is no scene where the role is reversed, plus Seb’s encouragement for Mia to go after her dreams does suggest a lack of female empowerment. Lastly, the LA Chazelle represents can be seen as white washed, taking out the cultural diversity in real life LA, and is replaced by a LA without poverty or crime, creating an unrealistic and overly perfect LA.
These issues, although are important, do not focus on the reason Chazelle made the film in the first place. What the film does do is elegantly display the magic of cinema in Hollywood’s Golden Age and is what I most enjoyed about this film. It is refreshing to be proven wrong, that this film is not just another mainstream romantic film but rather an exploration and dedication to the old Hollywood style, giving it a refreshing feeling that everyone should experience.
It took me a long time until I finally decided to watch La La Land for many reasons; I don’t like musicals, I never really was a big fan of Ryan Gosling and I thought it was going to be one of those highly overrated films that the critics and Oscars love. However, I wish I had watched it sooner.
Probably one of the most beautiful films to visually watch, La La Land captivates you and draws you into what seems to be a perfect world of colour, song, dance, and romance. The direction by Damien Chazelle is stunning, the acting by Emma Stone, and even Ryan Gosling, is outstanding, the music by Justin Hurwitz is beautiful. All of this combined leaves a brilliant spectacle that any type of audience would enjoy. As well as that, La La Land offers a great escape into a fantasy America full of bright colour, beautiful scenery and perfect romance, but that doesn’t stop it from being realistic, especially at the very end when Mia and Seb don’t actually end up together.
They had the choice between their own perfect career or a perfect relationship between the two of them and it seems that they both focused on their desired career rather than romance in the end. This is what is truly great about La La Land- it perfectly combines the fantasy spectacular we all want in a movie, with the hard-hitting reality of modern relationships.
This film is all right but it was a little jazzy.
The actors and actresses are good and the songs were good as well but I am not really into jazz and for me it just seemed out of place.
In my opinion it is worth a watch and it is worth getting the DVD if you love Jazz.
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