A Brief Review of La La Land
Posted Aug 15, 2019 07:39 PM
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This is just personal opinion, I'm not a professional critic or writer!
La La Land, the long-awaited comeback of Damien Chazelle after the great success of the 2014 masterpiece "Whiplash" had not failed to impress viewers and critics alike. Set in the current day, La La Land is a story driven through the love of the arts and the love between the two main characters Sebastian (Portrayed by Ryan Gosling) and Mia (Portrayed by Emma Stone). Without disclosing fully the plot, Mia and Sebastian are dreamers with a similar love for their passions of acting and jazz, in which they are drawn together through this similar intense passion of the arts and what may eventually lead to the demise of what they have been striving so long for.
Justin Hurwitz (who also worked on "Whiplash" and "Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench" with Chazelle) both composed and produced the soundtrack for La La Land. The musical theming draws multiple homages to popular musicals of the years including the infamous "Singing in the Rain" which is referenced during "A Lovely Night" , "West Side Story" which is referenced during "Someone in the Crowd" and a sneaky homage to their previous unsuccessful short-movie "Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench" which is homaged through the similar chord progression throughout the movie which is featured in the Overture of the movie. Much like Edgar Wright's directing style, music is perfectly woven into the movie as a mode of storytelling.
Almost every aspect of La La Land could be described as perfect. The cinematography (by cinematographist Linus Sandgren) is extremely lively and blissful with gorgeous locations and colours through every single scene. The soundtrack is an extremely consistent masterpiece, much like Hurwitz's prior work on Whiplash, with lively and emotive sounds that allow for the chemistry of Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling to shine throughout and blossom as the movie progresses. It is the truly genre-defining masterpiece full of 1960s musical nostalgia and fantastical moments that will leave your head spinning.
La La Land certainly lived up to its prior "Whiplash", winning five Oscars, seven Golden Globes, five BAFTAs, two Screen Actors Guild Awards and the AFI award for movie of the year. It has no doubt that La La Land was the defining movie of the year for 2016 and is certainly a must-watch movie to people who haven't yet watched it.
I would rate the movie a solid 9.5/10. There has been no other movie within the past 20 years which is able to beat La La Land in its genre and is without a shadow of a doubt a "classic" within the musical genre and will be loved for years to come.
