NEW MOVIE: La La Land

Before the first real frame of film begins, we know that La La Land will be a different animal than we've grown accustomed to in the modern age of cinema. After studio logos, we're presented with text we haven't seen in decades on the silver screen: "Presented in CinemaScope," a proud token of nostalgia. The triumphant fanfare of glorious film is replaced with the many sounds of the Los Angeles freeway, endless honking, yelling, and different types of music as the Sun beats down on the drivers. Suddenly, the cacophony gives way to an infectious Latin beat. Though we began this film with the road rage we know and love, we're now thrown into the film's opening number, as the singing, dancing, and jazz-fluting Greek Chorus of Hollywood-Hopefuls-On-the-Freeway establishes the tone for the rest of the film: it's an often-fun, unapologetic, colorful, and nostalgic musical about dreamers with passion, ready to pay the price to achieve said dreams. Of course, this brief synopsis does not do justice to the detail present in this sequence. I haven't even begun to mention the many colors, the extensive choreography, the implications of the lyrics, or even the fact that it's all in one, very long (perhaps ten minute) take; there is not enough room in a single review to do so. The great joy is: this is only a taste of the mastery of Damien Chazelle's latest film La La Land.

Rated PG-13 for some language

As the Greek Chorus returns to their vehicles, we see the first encounter between aspiring actress Mia (Emma Stone, Birdman) and jazz pianist Sebastian (Ryan Gosling, Drive), just two of the many hopefuls on the highway but the two with whom we spend the rest of the movie with. Unlike the cute and witty first meeting of Gene Kelly and Debbie Reynolds in Singin' in the Rain, our love interests meet rather unceremoniously: a prolonged honking of the horn and the flipping-of-the-bird. From there, we see how they struggle to achieve their passions and how their paths always seem to cross. "Maybe it means something," Sebastian ponders. "Probably not," he concludes. Oh, but it does mean something: perhaps not fate, but their chance encounters pave the way for writer-director Chazelle (Whiplash) to completely sweep us into their musical romance, asking us if it truly is a bad thing to be a dreamer and, by the end, also making us ponder the consequences of every action we make.

I try to analyze a film and look at it from as artistic of a view as I can on the first viewing. When I saw this for the first time on Monday, I just couldn't. I became so emotionally involved in the story, I couldn't even be bothered to try to make out symbolism and themes; it was like the strings that much of the score is composed of took me by the scruff of the neck and took me on a ride, never content to let go. I had to really process the film for a while after I saw it, meditating on it. Then I saw it a second time and was able to pick up more. I could see it again and again and still get more out of it, for sure. La La Land is like a great, beefy classic novel, one that your great-aunt who was an English major annotated so much that the text can't even be read anymore. There's so much detail in most every frame, so much that goes into every shot, long and short. There's unstated symbolism in the colors that our heroes wear and an enchantment in the lighting. It's poetic and not just because a good chunk of its script is in sung verse: the film opens and closes in the same style; the film goes through four seasons, starting and ending in winter; motifs come in and out through the hypnotically beautiful score; the many waltzes and "dream ballets" are more about what they mean than their technique.

Even though it is a very involving romance between Mia and Sebastian, I think it is worth noting the use of CinemaScope--the fact that it was shot on film instead of digital. The first time I saw it, it was kind of frustrating how whenever the camera moved for prolonged periods of time, it left a motion blur until it stopped. While in our age of pristine equipment, it is easy to call if a flaw, I think Chazelle was decisive about this choice and not just for sake of nostalgia. The blur is the "worst" during the opening number when it's sweeping across the many hopefuls dancing on cars, so it's difficult to make out the faces. However, I found it justified itself in a later scene in the first act when Sebsastian is playing at a fine dining restaurant. Panning around the patrons, the camera stops and focuses on Sebastian at the piano, smiling to himself at the idiocy of playing crappy jazz Christmas tunes. He finally decides to play the theme on his heart, an emotional jazz solo that comes to define the rest of the soundtrack and his relationship with Mia. From then on, now that we've found our "Someones in the Crowd," the camera stays fixated on them, culminating in a final audition sequence that salutes and calls out to the dreamers in all of us, "the artists, the poets, and plays," foolish though we may seem in our journey to act, to direct, to create art, to write, to talk about movies, to make movies, to make a difference in the world, to be what we want to be in this life because we darn well can. That doesn't mean there aren't hardships and sacrifices that we have to face, though, and the film is unapologetic in showing us this. The first lyric of the entire film is about sacrifice, for goodness' sake. As a result, despite its fun allusions to classic musicals and films, it is a bittersweet ode. A lovely ode, but bittersweet.

Stone and Gosling bring their impeccable chemistry to a powerful film.

La La Land is a beautifully-made film that is not comfortable to only be a homage to classic cinema. Instead, it sets itself in modern times to deal with the real concepts of pursuing passions and loves and what we are willing to do to keep them if we can. Its songs are perfect for the occasion, but also speak volumes to us as dreamers. In a serendipitous happenstance, I came across some friends of mine in the same theater the film was showing in; afterwards, the lot of us talked for an hour about it, and we never veered far from the door of Theater 12, even as the next showing began. The late great Roger Ebert, when discussing the idea of what makes a great film, once wrote:

It is said that the human brain divides its functions. The right brain is devoted to sensory impressions, emotions, colors, music. The left brain deals with abstract thought, logic, philosophy, analysis. My definition of a great movie: While you're watching it, it engages your right brain. When it's over, it engages your left brain.

That may be the best way to describe La La Land, a sure-to-be classic. If you truly value a star rating, dear Reader, it has 5 out of 5 stars. This is a special film that you must see in the theaters. There are all walks of people who are loving this movie. In the two matinees I attended, the theater was packed with middle-aged and elderly folk who applauded the film at the end. A high school friend of mine, who you would never say was the biggest musical nerd, has seen this three times (if not more) and has declared it to be his favorite movie. An older friend said he felt like he became a changed person afterwards. It has affected the cinephiles, the theatre nerds, and the common man. One old man came to the theater with his oxygen tank just to see this film--what dedication! The film opens worldwide on January 6th after a long expansion from limited release: see it as soon as you can, and if you somehow can't, rearrange everything so you can.

Have you seen La La Land? What did you think about it? Whatever you have to say about me or the movies, comment below!