I was eager to see this movie after hearing it had won so many Oscars but it left my local movie house too soon and all 18 of my public library's DVD copies of the film were checked out with a waiting list over a month long. So I rented a copy and am quite glad I did.
Near the very beginning, this movie has a scene that tells you that expected reality will be occasionally dismissed in favor of music and dance: As hundreds of cars become temporarily halted on one of LA's multi-lane trafficways (those of us who've driven there know that's realistic), one person gets out and starts dancing and soon that serves as the catalyst to prompt 100s of others to do the same thing (pure fantasy).
The primary characters are Mia (Emma Stone) and Seb (Ryan Gosling). Emma is an aspiring actress/playwright who temporarily works as a barrista in a coffee shop until she can get her break. Seb is a jazz pianist in a club where he's forced to play the kind of music he doesn't like so he aspires to own his own club in which he can feature the kind of music he favors.
The two meet, develop into a romantic couple, consoling and finding various ways to support and/or rescue each other when needed. They each do finally get their "Big Break" -- Emma as the lead in a movie that'll be filmed in Paris and Seb in a traveling band that pays him enough to accrue enough money to start his own club in LA.
"LaLa Land" ("La" is a "play" on "L.A." for Los Angeles) has lots of spots where the viewer must infer what is happening or has happened because we don't see it unfold or be dramatically portrayed in the film. E.g., when Mia is shown back in LA from Paris with a child and a husband who's not Seb, that suddenly strikes us viewers that the Mia-Seb relationship won't be one in which "they'll live happily together ever after." With her husband, Mia & Seb do later meet (in Seb's new, apparently successful club), comfortably & briefly acknowledging each other, but continuing on in their separate ways no doubt privately grateful for the role the other did play in bringing each to their new levels.
But that's also quite realistic, isn't it? -- I think many of us are grateful for how our loves in the past have helped us to go on to new levels. So perhaps this "LaLa Land" will prompt other film makers to experiment with finding new ways of combining music & dance with human hopes and more realistic outcomes.
Near the very beginning, this movie has a scene that tells you that expected reality will be occasionally dismissed in favor of music and dance: As hundreds of cars become temporarily halted on one of LA's multi-lane trafficways (those of us who've driven there know that's realistic), one person gets out and starts dancing and soon that serves as the catalyst to prompt 100s of others to do the same thing (pure fantasy).
The primary characters are Mia (Emma Stone) and Seb (Ryan Gosling). Emma is an aspiring actress/playwright who temporarily works as a barrista in a coffee shop until she can get her break. Seb is a jazz pianist in a club where he's forced to play the kind of music he doesn't like so he aspires to own his own club in which he can feature the kind of music he favors.
The two meet, develop into a romantic couple, consoling and finding various ways to support and/or rescue each other when needed. They each do finally get their "Big Break" -- Emma as the lead in a movie that'll be filmed in Paris and Seb in a traveling band that pays him enough to accrue enough money to start his own club in LA.
"LaLa Land" ("La" is a "play" on "L.A." for Los Angeles) has lots of spots where the viewer must infer what is happening or has happened because we don't see it unfold or be dramatically portrayed in the film. E.g., when Mia is shown back in LA from Paris with a child and a husband who's not Seb, that suddenly strikes us viewers that the Mia-Seb relationship won't be one in which "they'll live happily together ever after." With her husband, Mia & Seb do later meet (in Seb's new, apparently successful club), comfortably & briefly acknowledging each other, but continuing on in their separate ways no doubt privately grateful for the role the other did play in bringing each to their new levels.
But that's also quite realistic, isn't it? -- I think many of us are grateful for how our loves in the past have helped us to go on to new levels. So perhaps this "LaLa Land" will prompt other film makers to experiment with finding new ways of combining music & dance with human hopes and more realistic outcomes.