La La Land has been in release since December and has gradually been released to more and more theaters over the last month. It’s currently sitting as the #2 movie in America. This is a great movie musical that takes us to few places very few musicals do anymore.
Ryan Gosling stars as a struggling jazz musician and Emma Stone is an aspiring actress working in a coffee shop. Both are finding life incredibly difficult as they try to hold on to their dreams while living in L.A. They have a Meet Cute-type situation in which Gosling tries to get Stone to like jazz and she believes it’s a dying art.
They continue to spend more time with each other and eventually like one another all the while trying to expand their horizons about what they want to do with their lives. Gosling and Stone engage in one particular dance sequence that involves no cuts and it’s movie musical heaven to watch.
John Legend costars as an old high school classmate of Gosling’s who persuades him to come play for his band. He accepts the job, but Stone is worried he may be compromising on his dream of owning his own jazz nightclub. In the meantime, Stone quits her coffee shop job in order to write her own play.
La La Land was written and directed by Damien Chazelle who made Whiplash. This is a film that is at once a celebration and a love letter to jazz, the Golden Age of Hollywood movie musicals, and the courage and passion to follow one’s dreams.
It’s technically brilliant including a key sequence involving Gosling and Stone as they levitate over the Griffith Observatory and the images are gorgeous.
Dazzling and whimsical yet heartbreaking and bittersweet, La La Land combines old-fashioned melodrama with a contemporary setting that makes for a very memorable experience long after it’s over. This is one of the most beautiful films of the decade.
Grade: A
(Rated PG-13 for some language.)
