La La Land, a film by Damien Chazelle, is one of those movies that brought me comfort and happiness. Lately, it's been challenging to find movies that are really enjoyable. Don't get me wrong; there's a right place for movies that excite people with explosions or films that tear at your heart and cause you to leave the theater emotionally exhausted. But, at this point in my life, I need to feel excited about the world - about my future and my opportunities in life. This film made me feel far more content than any movie in a long time. This is not a universal interpretation - my sister, for instance, loved the movie but left very saddened. So, jumping into spoilers, I'm going to highlight what in this movie made me feel so happy.
1. The Colors
The film goes for a very classic Hollywood theme. And with that comes popping colors and each scene contains a color palette. As a hopeful filmmaker, I aspire to have this sort of attention to detail. Every time I see something like it I take a moment to think about why the colors are what they are and what they do for the scene. I believe color is usually overlooked so seeing it so prominent always wins brownie points with me.
2. The Music
Much like Mia, Emma Stone's character, I am not a jazz fan at all. However, in this film it definitely grew on me (not to the point where I'll listen on my own but within the film, yes). It sent my father on a jazz obsession for a few days and all my family listened to collectively for the next couple days was the soundtrack to the film. My personal favorite piece is the one Mia sings for her audition towards the end of the film entitled, "Audition (Fools Who Dream)". It nearly reduced me to tears because it feels so completely...true, for lack of a better term. Sometimes it's hard to follow dreams, and it can feel defeating, so this song is particularly poignant both for the film and for where I am in my life.
3. Fantasy versus Reality
I feel the film was particularly successful with balancing these elements. The film is a love letter to LA and, in some ways, it feels very much like a fantasy world. The colors pop, people are creating and following their dreams everywhere, people are dancing on cars, and the two main characters perform a tap number and later fly and dance among the stars in the planetarium. At the same time, Mia and Sebastian (Ryan Gosling) have genuine fights and a falling out that I feel like I've seen happen in real life. They don't have success following their dreams in the middle.
What's interesting though is that it's not until Sebastian is following an element of his dream that their relationship starts to fall apart. And then, when Mia does get her chance, they don't try to stay together. They both end up with their dreams accomplished and in separate lives. The best part of this was that they weren't unhappy. Not being together didn't mean that their dreams were hollow because of the absence of each other. Now my sister was heartbroken but I felt it was realistic. There's a montage that shows their imagined life together but in the end, he smiles at her and she leaves with her husband. I feel like this mix of reality and fantasy mimics how real life feels. Sometimes, a time is so magical it feels like a fantasy and sometimes it's painful.
It's this mix that made this movie stand out and feel so poignant to me. I like my reality to be tinged with fantasy and the idea that dreams come true--even if not always in the perfect way.
