Sincere, Emotional and Inspiring

Rating: 10/10 (18 December 2016)

I had a feeling, having seen Whiplash, that Damien Chazelle's musical, La La Land, would be incredible.
The film charts the careers and relationships of two characters, Mia (Emma Stone), a hopeful actress, and Sebastian (Ryan Gosling), a jazz pianist romantic, in beautiful Los Angeles. Mia struggles to be noticed, amidst swarms of budding youths, as she faces rejection after rejection in audition after audition. Sebastian is tragically in love with the dying musical art of jazz and tries to reconcile his dreams of reviving the lost tradition whilst appealing to an audience. They connect with each in the shared pursuit of their individual dreams.
Right from the opening number, 'Another Day in the Sun', which takes place on a highway congested with the traffic of LA, I was grinning more than I had at any time this year. The music by Justin Hurwitz and the choreography by Mandy Moore are inspired and complement each other beautifully here as in the rest of the film. The style is grand, large, happy - to match the ambitions of the characters.
The acting is noteworthy. Stone is awkward, disarming, emotional when she needs to be, and Gosling is funny, charming, heartfelt. Their dancing and singing was also surprisingly good. The pair create two of the most genuine performances of the year.
There are several positively magical scenes. There is a wonderful, playful tap-dancing performance over the backdrop of the cityscape at sunset. There is a romantic scene in a planetarium. The epilogue sequence of 'what could have been' was surreal with its bright pastel colours and haunting rendition of the film's musical theme. But a silent nod between Mia and Sebastian as they leave each other for potentially the last time tells me that this is not necessarily a lost opportunity. Life is not a surreal fairy-tale. These characters do not receive the perfect literary happy-ending of walking off into the sunset. Life has its trials and tribulations, but despite not being together neither character seems dismayed. Perhaps we should follow our passions, reap the successes we deserve, and not fret needlessly on what could have been.
Chazelle himself had difficulty garnering support for this movie. It was quickly written off as a risky investment - a musical without well established songs, by a relatively obscure director. Chazelle received an offer with a limited budget of $1 million to make his film but with the proviso that Sebastian was a rock musician and that the bittersweet ending be dropped. I am thrilled Chazelle refused to compromise. It was only after the success of Whiplash that he received attention from studios to get his musical off the ground and create the picture I have just seen.
I was so entranced by Chazelle's movie because much like his characters, who do what they love, he unashamedly, unabashedly has created a film of his own making with little regard for what others might want. Perhaps paradoxically, we find we want it nonetheless because we love to see people succeed in what they love. The story of Mia and Sebastian's success was sincere, emotional and inspiring. This movie, however, is not simply the triumph of Mia and Sebastian but the triumph of people who follow their passions.