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| Courtesy of Summit |
Miraculously, Chazelle’s follow-up is somehow even better. La La Land, his long-gestating passion project, is a tribute to the era of classic Hollywood musicals that manages to simultaneously feel brand new and delightfully quaint. It also proves the sizzling chemistry that Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone generated in the terrific Crazy, Stupid, Love. wasn’t a fluke. (Let’s pretend Gangster Squad never happened.) The film is a perfect blend of everything audiences love about both performers and their work elevates an already-strong story to stratospheric levels.
Unlike most modern musicals, which often find narrative reasons for characters to suddenly break out into song or place them in settings where performances don’t feel weird (karaoke bars, coffee houses, etc.), La La Land is refreshingly unashamed of its genre. From the charming opening scene, it makes no apologies and invites viewers to either immerse themselves in the movie’s heightened world or bail out.
The first image viewers see is a nightmarish traffic jam on a Los Angeles freeway, with commuters listening to various styles of music on their car radios. The audience hears snippets of each song as the camera speeds past their open windows, finally settling on a young woman who steps out of her car to dance. The dancing leads to singing, which leads to a full-blown, 1950s-style musical number involving a multicultural collection of performers.
As the rousing sequence ends, there’s a glimpse of the two main characters, whose initial exchange is the opposite of a “meet cute.” I’m a musical theater nerd, so a big, goofy grin appeared on my face almost immediately. It didn’t leave for the next two hours, until the achingly beautiful finale. If nothing else, Chazelle proves he’s a master of the third act.
La La Land could’ve easily been a mawkish disaster, an exercise in nostalgia that’s all flash and no substance. Instead, everything works flawlessly because Chazelle’s brilliant screenplay persuades you to invest immediately in the dreams and emotional well-being of Sebastian (Gosling) and Mia (Stone), two idealistic artists hoping to beat the odds in Hollywood.
Sebastian is a jazz pianist who dreams of opening his own club. Mia is an aspiring actress who works as a barista in a studio lot coffee shop, growing more disillusioned with every failed audition. Although their relationship gets off to a bumpy start with their first few (hilarious) interactions, the two eventually fall in love. However, as their respective goals begin to pull them in different directions, they’re forced to make some big decisions.
Maybe it’s an occupational hazard, but I tend to be a couple of steps ahead of a movie’s plot at any given moment. Usually, that leads to me having borderline schizophrenic conversations with myself as the story plays out. I’ll think, “If the characters did this, it would be amazing.” Or, “If the plot makes this turn, I’ll be so happy.” Of course, the movie almost never does whatever I hope it will do, leading to a resigned acceptance that it’s content to hit all the predetermined checkpoints before arriving at a long-predicted conclusion.
Imagine my overwhelming shock and delight as I watched La La Land make the perfect narrative decision every single time, without fail. It was almost like Chazelle peeked in my head, saw all the circuitry and then executed just the right combination of moves to make it overload. There were times I was literally bouncing up and down in my seat, pumping my fists. I must’ve looked like a complete idiot to the people sitting around me in the theater.
For instance, anyone who’s seen a romantic movie knows to expect the sequence where the couple’s relationship hits a rough patch. The mystery tends to involve which ridiculous plot contrivance is going get in the way for 15 or 20 minutes until the inevitable happy ending. You know, something dumb that could be cleared up in real life with a quick conversation. Girl thinks guy is cheating on her, but mystery woman turns out to be his sister. Or guy is rehearsing lines for an audition, but girl overhears and mistakenly thinks he’s talking about their relationship.
Nothing like that happens in La La Land. Sebastian and Mia face hurdles that are realistic and tough to solve. They argue about legitimate grievances, and no one is completely right or wrong. Sometimes it makes scenes painful to watch, but it makes their relationship far more authentic. In turn, it makes the happy moments that come along feel exhilarating rather than inevitable. That’s tough to do in a normal movie, let alone when the protagonists are also singing and dancing.
Credit goes to Gosling and Stone (along with Chazelle, of course) for building true emotional connections with the audience, rather than coasting on the goodwill of previous performances. It makes a huge difference. They’re both incredible actors, but they deliver next-level work here – Stone especially. She seems like a shoo-in for a Best Actress nomination, although a win is tougher to predict; it’s an incredibly competitive category this year.
J.K. Simmons and John Legend also deliver strong performances in brief supporting roles, but this is essentially a two-person show. And what a show it is, especially those musical numbers. It seems like the height of arrogance to proclaim that you can match the power of those classic Hollywood showstoppers, but darned if Chazelle doesn’t pull it off.
I want to spend another thousand words raving about that breathtaking final sequence, but I’d never dream of spoiling it. If you’re like me, its emotional power will make you feel like you’re floating back to your car – but without your heart. Chazelle rips that out of your chest and keeps it as a souvenir.
La La Land is rated PG-13 for some language.
Grade: A+
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