They captured a feeling, a sky with no ceiling and a sunset inside a frame...

Rating: 9/10 (16 December 2016)

Some dreams are foolishly unreal. Some,just extensions of our dull real world thoughts.
This dream, is different. It's a painting in motion, with vibrant colors waltzing around in every 'frame of mind'. It's a song where the notes finds their echo in your own heartbeat. La La Land, true to its name, is truer to its essence ,to the core. So once we are happily, musically transported to Los Angeles in the first scene cum song, there, with our hearts and minds soaring higher with every beautiful frame, we enter a dream.
The 'sweet n sour' journey of two struggling artists to reach their individual dreams. And when they reach those 'destinations' , you realize, that the real dream was the journey itself.
Mia (Emma Stone) a wannabe actress,tries her luck in every possible audition and works in a Café to keep the ball rolling. Sebastian (Ryan Gosling), a Jazz enthusiast, a gifted pianist, and a self-proclaimed romantic, has to play jingles in restaurants to pay his 'real life' bills. It is music and his soulful playing in the restaurant which first brings Mia to him. The sequence as breathtaking, as it is to Mia.
Interestingly, they crisscross each other's paths quite a number of times after this, till they finally find each other's hearts and feet tap dancing to a single perfect tune in a beautifully lit night. The season has changed and you can feel it in your heart. The much awaited love story begins.
Here's a film where the camera is one of the main leads, on screen. Shot in the dramatic CinemaScope, Linus Sandgren, the Cinematographer , has given us some unbelievably long one shots, without once hindering the 'rhythm' of the excellent storytelling by the Director Damien Chazelle. The camera moves almost constantly and captures frames as beautiful as artwork. Moods have been portrayed with brilliant usage of light; emotions have been underlined, by creating meaningful darkness. Who needs spoken words when the visuals are so expressive; music is enough then, to guide you through the lyrical journey.
People fluidly break into poetic songs and we start almost waiting for the next. Mia and Sebastian's story moves forward with an admirable ease. The scenes are as picturesque as in a fairy tale and we are gently glided into the classic erawhere girls in pretty dresses and men in bow ties dance away into a starry nightbut rrrring goes the signature Apple tune on Mia's iPhone, and we fall back on our seats with a jerk , suddenly awake , to our 21st century 'modern' present.What a brilliant way to break the reverie and show the present time.
Love and ambition, hearts and minds, egos and expectations, do they ever understand each other?
It's like a soothing duet when Mia and Seb's love is in its bloom and it's a silence, when they have their first heartbreaking fight. Just a little glint of tears in the eyes, just a flicker of light on her face and you know,there's a tempest going on, inside both of them.
Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling, are brilliant actors. They make Mia and Sebastian look, made for each other. From the moment when Sebastian brushes past her in rage, to the special moment they share in silence in the last scene, you can almost feel the electrifying camaraderie between them. Their eyes speak, their smiles talk, their ease in each other's company answers all that we need to know.
But they are 'made' and not 'mad' for each other. They show an admirable grace in handling their relationship. There's always a mutual respect in their conversations, a humaneness in their disagreements, and profound dignity in their regrets.
So you don't need "Hows and Whys and Whens", when they meet again, years later, after compromised wishes and much-achieved dreams.
They choose to sing 'their song' instead, he with his fingers, she with her eyes. And through the music, for the first time ever, they see a new dream, together. Of a life of could have been's and would have been's. Of a life that looked just so perfect, only because, it was, in the end, just a dream.
La La Land, is the land of dreams, dreamers and all those people who believe. It's a toast to them and their resilience, to go on and love and live and dare to think beyond. And so,
"Here's to the ones who dream ...Foolish, as they may seem... Here's to the hearts that ache... Here's to the mess we make..."