There’s a profound love story at the heart of La La Land, and it’s told with extravagant musical, visual and acting artistry. In dazzling performances, Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling star as struggling artists (actress and jazz pianist) in contemporary Los Angeles who meet and fall in love. Neither the actress or the musician can buy a break in their careers, and the tension between sticking to their passions and compromising for popular success will determine the future of their relationship. They can’t resist each other, and we, the audience, can resist neither them or La la Land.
Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling are Movie Stars in the best sense of the phrase. Each has a special charisma before a camera; we are driven to watch them and to sympathize with them. There’s a scene when Stone’s character is dining with another man, hears background music that reminds her of Gosling’s and runs to join him at the Rialto Theatre; it’s as authentically romantic as any scene in any movie. When Gosling’s character lashes out and says something hurtful, the expression in Stone’s eyes is absolutely heartbreaking.
La la Land employs music and dance to tell its story in as immersive an experience as in the great 1964 French drama The Umbrellas of Cherbourg. The original music by Justin Hurwitz (Whiplash) is excellent. John Legend co-stars as the leader of an emerging band. The dancing in La La Land is the real thing – we see the full bodies dancing like we did with Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly – no phony close-ups and quick cuts.
They are no Fred and Ginger, but Gosling and Stone dance well enough; Gosling started out as a Mouseketeer, after all. Gosling’s voice is not strong, but it’s pleasing (think Chet Baker). Stone finally gets to really belt one out near the finale.
Gosling plays the piano – really plays it – magnificently. Liz Kinnon is credited as Gosling’s piano teacher/coach – and she must have done a helluva job.
All of this comes from writer-director Damien Chazelle, a 31-year-old guy from Rhode Island who most recently made Whiplash. Chazelle has served notice that he’s a remarkable talent.
Chazelle’s use of vivid colors is at the core of La La Land’s hyper-stylized look. Right in the opening scene, notice the colors of cars in the opening traffic jam and then the colors of clothes on the motorists that burst into a production number. Carried throughout the movie, Chazelle’s use of the color palette made me think of the films of Pedro Almodovar. The production design is by David Wasco, who has worked on six Quentin Tarantino films and movies ranging from Rampart to Fifty Shades of Grey. It’s one of the best-looking movies in years.
As befits its title, La La Land is a love letter to Los Angeles. We see locals doing the tourist thing, which I think is very cool, as the stars take in the Watts Towers and the Angels Flight Railway. In a joint homage to LA and to the movies, our lovers watch Rebel Without a Cause at the Rialto and then sneak in the Griffith Observatory after dark themselves.
La La Land’s epilogue is as wistful and emotionally powerful as the storied snowy one in The Umbrellas of Cherbourg. This fantasy montage is the emotional climax of La La Land and perhaps its cinematic highlight.
It’s worth noting that golden age of movie musicals was when the Greatest Generation enjoyed them as a diversion from the Depression and world war. We’re well past the apex of movie musicals, but, every so often, a musical arrives at a moment when we are ready to embrace one (Grease, Fame, Flash Dance, Chicago). Now – after the election campaign of 2016 and as the new administration prepares to take over the government – is such a moment.
La La Land is a profound love story, exquisitely told with music, dance and superb acting. It’s a landmark in cinema and one of my Best Movies of 2016.