By Brett Blake With 2014’s WHIPLASH, writer/director Damien Chazelle announced himself as a gifted filmmaker on the rise. With LA LA LAND, he firmly establishes himself as one of the strongest young artists working in cinema, one with a authorial voice and a command of technique. LA LA LAND is a wonderful, gloriously old-fashioned experience, and it fires on all cylinders with nary a false step taken anywhere along the way. It’s a relatively simple tale: Mia (Emma Stone) is a struggling actress looking for her big break in Hollywood. Sebastian (Ryan Gosling) is a frustrated jazz pianist fighting to keep classic jazz relevant. Mia and Sebastian’s paths cross a few times, and before they know it, they’re romantically linked; we follow their separate and shared struggles as they seek out their dreams, accompanied by wonderful musical numbers that jump right off the screen. There’s no way I could possibly hide this, so I had better get it out right here: LA LA LAND is a movie that affected me in a deep, emotional way. Setting aside the craft of the filmmaking (which I’ll eventually get to), this wistful story about pursuing dreams is potent and moving, and its longing, almost bittersweet edge should resonate with anybody struggling to figure out what they’re doing with their life, or questioning if they’ve made the right decisions with respect to going after what their hearts really want. As one of the lyrics of the movie’s most powerful song says, “Here’s to the ones who dream,” and the entire film itself feels like an ode to perseverance and the classically romantic ideals of being true to oneself in the face of adversity. It’s an enormously optimistic movie (though tinged with some melancholy), and one that feels almost as if writer/director Damien Chazelle is speaking individually to members of the audience and saying, “Keep going after the things you want to achieve. It’s worth trying.” Though there are a handful of supporting characters, the movie lives and dies on the shoulders of its two protagonists. Luckily, Gosling and Stone are more than up to that task. Gosling brings a wonderfully understated (almost dry) sense of humor to his role, coupled with a genuine passion for jazz which motivates him at every tun. He also appears to do his own piano playing, which - considering the intricate nature of the music - is no small achievement. It is Stone, though, who is the true revelation of the movie; her performance here is the best of her career thus far, a luminous, vibrant turn powered by equal parts determination to succeed and insecurity over her real worth as an aspiring actress. Stone’s been on the edge of the so-called “A List” for a while, now, but her work here should surely push her over the top. It’s perhaps my favorite performance of the year. I’ve seen some describe the movie as a “love letter” to Los Angeles, but I’m not sure I really agree with that. The film is quite clear-eyed about the complexities and downsides that the city has to offer those who go there to pursue their creative endeavors. Though the city itself is photographed in a stunning, sometimes dreamlike way, this actually serves to underline the more honest realities the narrative presents about its locale. Chazelle’s story, fundamentally, is not a fantasy, even as it includes fantastical elements. What the film very definitely displays is director Chazelle’s range as a filmmaker. The bluster and ferocious intensity of his previous film, WHIPLASH, are replaced here by sensitivity and exuberance, but the energy is pitched at just as high a level as it was in WHIPLASH. This is a movie riding high on the love of cinema and music, and on the power of those two art forms when fused together. It’s unabashedly, unashamedly old-fashioned in the way it approaches its musical elements; this is a movie that is in-your-face with its big song and dance numbers. LA LA LAND is no reinvention of the genre, no meta commentary. It very much takes its cue from classic musicals and transplants that into 2016. The result is a spectacular entertainment of the sort we don’t really get much anymore. The songs, courtesy of composer Justin Hurwitz and lyricists Benj Pasek & Justin Paul, are infused with jazz sensibilities that wouldn’t feel too out-of-place in one of the brighter musicals of yesteryear, and the dance sequences are totally old-school in choreography, but are captured through Chazelle’s dynamic (and impeccable) camerawork. Some of the numbers appear to unfold in long, unbroken shots, something that often has a dazzling effect when you realize how long shots have played out without cuts. Acting as both a glorious homage to classic cinema and an incredibly vital, energetic modern work, LA LA LAND is simply a powerhouse. It didn’t give me exactly what I wanted or expected... it gave me more, and it’s one of the very best films of 2016. I can’t wait to see it again.
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