Where to Watch:
9.2/10
FilmFascination Rating
I don’t think anyone with no idea about La La Land would have the slightest hint of what the movie has up its sleeves. From the outside, it seems to be another of the lovey-dovey happy musical movies I am not a fan of. But it is not. It is filled with heart-wrenching emotions of love, struggle, the urge to achieve your dream, doubt, and reality.
It is worthless to talk about the plot without any spoilers. To put it simply- the movie is about Sebastion, a musician passionate about Jazz, and Mia, an actress. Sorry, I forgot to say ‘struggling’ for both of them. That is a big part of the story. But there is no point in discussing the plot because the real magic lies in its presentation. The movie starts with Mia’s life where we be with her and are brought to a point in the timeline. Then we are traced back to the moment where we started, but this time we follow Seb’s life. This is one of the few beautiful things that Damien does in the film.
Damien is a passionate artist and we can notice that passion through the screen. Most of the time he knows what he is doing and you are surprised to see how he does so with ease. The camera swiftly moves through the whole room in one long shot, then takes a close up on to Gosling, changes the lighting (then the emotions), then moves back to the room, and brings us back from his personal space into the public space back again. It is a beauty! The direction is very impressive, not just with the actors but when it jumps to this fairy tale environment to aid with the storytelling, shown by shadows and animation. It is colourful, vibrant, and a pretty movie to watch.
La La Land has this magic to jump to melodramatic peppy song and swiftly come back to the plot and still portray such raw emotions with depth. But Damien’s passion carries him away at times. The starting songs, although so well directed, I don’t like them in the movie. For the people who do like musicals, this is going to be a feast for you. But not for me. I get this urge to drag the player and skip the song. I am not saying every song should be trimmed. Some tunes of the films are integral parts of it. In fact, ‘City of Stars’ and ‘Mia and Sebastian’s theme’ are one of the few tunes that bring many memories about the movie. But the beginning songs were not right. I bet so many people would have left watching it, after going about it for like 30 minutes. Some trimming in the initial part would have made it near perfect.
The movie is about a lot of things. It is about consequences of our actions and the small decisions we take, the effects of the words we speak or the words we don’t. There is a beautiful verbal fight scene between Seb and Mia. ‘Beautiful? What the hell are you saying? How can a fight scene be beautiful’. Ah, you’ll understand when you see it. The argument starts from authenticity and even though one says something they shouldn’t have, we as audience who know both their sides, understand that all they are doing are caring for each other. But as individuals in the movie, they don’t realise that. It is nice to see such depth in a musical movie with competent actors who can carry it.
There is a reason why we get connected with the plot. Each of us has dreams and aspirations that we believe we will accomplish while lying alone in our bed. Are we good enough? Is it worth the risk? What if it doesn’t work out? Maybe it was never for me. We have all been there. It reminds us how easy it is to forget our dreams. Anyone who is taking risks out there would see themselves in Mia and Seb.
I could carry out a whole discussion on the end. It is one of the best I have seen. That last glance they take with each other….ah…I’ll just shut up now. If you are like me who was holding back from watching this beauty just because of it being musical, please don’t. If you just stay a little bit with it, I am so sure you won’t regret it!
After watching this, I really have to ask-
‘City of stars, are you shining just for me?’
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