La La Land

La La Land

Jack Brink

Rating: PG-13

Score: 10 out of 10

La La Land was released on Dec. 9, 2016 and, I am sure as all of you know, no one has been able to shut up about the modern American musical at all this awards season. It dominated the Golden Globes and tied the record for most Oscar nominations of all time. So, the questions is, does it live up to the hype?

The answer is yes. A thousand times, yes.

La La Land is an absolute triumph of filmmaking. With a masterpiece of a soundtrack featuring stunning original songs, beautiful vibrant visuals, and two phenomenal performances of extremely likable characters turned in by Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling, there really isn’t much more you could want from a movie.

La La Land tells the story of two dreamers. One is aspiring actress Mia Dolan (Emma Stone), who unsurprisingly, in the cutthroat town known as Hollywood, has not been able to catch a break following her dream. The other is Sebastian Wilder (Ryan Gosling), who dreams of owning a very particular jazz club and reviving his beloved jazz music which is dying a slow death in today’s society. You can already guess that the two meet and fall in love, and what follows is one of the greatest onscreen romances of all time.

Equal parts beautiful and tragic, their love story is a brutally honest look into what sacrifices must be made for someone to follow their dreams, as well as how hard it is to remain together in the City of Stars, a city where it’s hard enough just surviving by yourself.

Stone and Gosling both deliver incredible performances; adding huge amounts of emotion to their characters, and both nail their singing scenes. I’ll never be able fathom how anyone could complain about their musical performances. They both deliver big time, shaking the audience to the core with their music, conveying their characters’ thoughts and feelings in powerful ways the entire time. You desperately want these characters to succeed and be happy together, and it’s no secret Stone and Gosling are a huge part of that. I fully expect both to take home Oscar awards this year.

The actors certainly weren’t the only ones behind the success of La La Land, as director Damien Chazelle was the one instrumental in creating the absolutely stunning world of the film. La La Land features a gorgeous, vibrant, colorful world (one very similar to the musicals of the fifties and sixties that inspired this film) that bring its characters and their emotions to life in big ways. You can watch the movie without any sound and still feel the emotion of the scene due to the amazing cinematography and art direction. Don’t do that though, because the music in this film is amazing.

The film’s score and soundtrack is everything, and is packed with every kind of music there is. Upbeat and catchy tunes, somber ballads, and of course the absolutely killer love songs. It’s all great, and just like the cinematography, really help hammer home the emotions and conflicts our characters are going through.

Marvelous performances by Stone and Gosling, remarkable visuals, a phenomenal musical soundtrack and score, valuable life lessons, and a mesmerizing closing sequence easily equate to what has a strong chance of being 2016’s best film. I can’t recommend this movie strongly enough.