Los Angeles. Mia is a waitress who is an aspiring actress. She attends almost every audition, but always fails to get a role. She meets Sebastian, a pianist who aspires to open his own jazz club, in a time when jazz is dying out. The two of them fall in love. Eventually, Sebastian succeeds as a pianist in a hit band and plans to go on tour with them, but his obligations cause him to miss Mia's monodrama in a theatre. Mia gives up upon her dream, but a casting agent calls Sebastian and Mia thus lands a role in a hit film shot in Paris. Some time later, Mia is a famous actress, married to David and mother of a child. During a traffic jam, David and Mia de-tour and land in a night bar, coincidentally owned by Sebastian. He plays a song conjuring up how he wished he could have kissed her from day one, married her, had a child with her, experienced adventures, toured Paris, until everything returns to reality. Mia, crushed by this "what if" emotion, walks away from the night club.
In a time of 'dark realism', director-screenwriter Damien Chazelle surprised the viewers and critics with this movie that is a piece of innocence, a gentle, lovable semi-fairy tale that stands out like a sore thumb due to its genre, yet still managed to pull it through thanks to his honest, genuine ode to the plight of people who follow their dreams even when the whole world is discouraging or ridiculing them. Why a musical? It is unknown, since the story would have worked as a 'straight forward' narrative, anyway, yet Chazelle loves music so much he wanted to risk. "La La Land" is a highly untypical modern film "against the norm" that pays homage to classic musicals from the 50s, yet its thematic core works on a higher level. It has two problems, though: the middle part is somewhat stale, routine; whereas Sebastian's story is of lukewarm interest—but Mia's story is simply excellent, showing her long journey of trying to make it as an actress in Hollywood, and genius actress Emma Stone raises to the occasion, giving her both an emotional, charming and humorous dimension.
There are a lot of highlights: the opening 4-minute scene, filmed in one take, where people dance during a traffic jam, is exquisite; the dance sequence where Mia and Sebastian are sitting on a bench and for a brief moment even dance just by tapping their feet is stylistically irresistible whereas it is a lot of fun watching Mia enduring ridiculous auditions from uninterested casting agents, since the viewers can identify with her ("Because I’ve been to a million auditions and same thing happens every time. Where I get interrupted because someone wants to get a sandwich. Or, I’m crying and they start laughing. Or, there’s people sitting in the waiting room, and they’re like me - but prettier and better!"). Some choice of the music is very refreshing, as well (A-ha's "Take on Me", for instance). "La La Land" is the movie equivalent of a person you fell in love with even though he/she was not your type: it is so idealistic and unusual, it is almost puzzling, yet its charm sweeps you over despite these flaws. It has numerous sweet moments, but ends on a sober, deeply sad note. The ending is both enchanting and disillusioned, speaking about some sad observations that people can enjoy in naive love only up until a certain point in life, since when they grow up, they have to take on a more pragmatic path that signals their loss of idealism. Rarely has a director ever crafted such a unique ending where the viewers watch surreal-fantasy "what if" images for 3-minutes, not knowing what is going on—until they reach the "punchline" at the end and "get it". But when they "get it", everything suddenly fits like a giant piece of dominos suddenly falling into place.
Grade:+++
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