Here's to the Messes We Make

Rating: 9/10 (12 January 2017)

Whiplash was my favorite film of 2014. It showcased a filmmaker that could control audience emotions with brains, tone and brilliant pacing. So I was very much anticipating director Chazelle's return to the big screen with La La Land, a decided change-of-pace that is getting almost universal acclaim, and rightfully so. Where Whiplash was an intense drama about ambition and loneliness within the jazz world, La La Land is bright musical about ambition and loneliness within Hollywood. Fully embracing the constructs of old-fashioned Astaire / Rogers pictures while floating them effortlessly into the 21st century, it's a joyous song-and-dance rom-com that dances far beyond its pretenses. Gosling and Stone are phenomenal, playing two wide-eyed dreamers looking to make something of their artistic abilities. With the lovely romantic melancholy of Once, the dreamlike song numbers of Singin' in the Rain, and the character motivations of each, the film wraps itself around our nostalgia before nudging us out of our familiar comfort. The songs are lyrically moving and ready-made for Broadway, and the sets and dances accompanying them would be considered experimental if they weren't so charmingly classic. If it seems like La La Land skates by on its charisma, think again. Playing effectively with the line between romance and reality, both in relationships and in aspirations, it asks us if one is inherently better than the other, and is it truly possible to have both? In our search for purpose, must we apologize for every mistake, or can we accept them & even love them? To quote one song directly, "Here's to the messes we make." That's where true love is found. That's where life is found.