LA LA Land Is Right Kind of Cinematic Dance To Take Your Heart On by Arthur Byrd In recent years, film musicals which have worked on the big screen have something we have seen before such as Footloose (movie) or from Broadway like Mamma Mia and the live broadcast of Grease. Something original would have been a hard time getting audiences into theaters especially during the winter months. One original movie is leading audience by the hand into the theaters. LA LA Land has received positive critical recognition and at the 2017 Golden Globe awards, the film set a record for the most awards won by a single film. LA LA Land lives up to all the hype that it is getting. The film’s casting is excellent and yet surprising. Ryan Gosling who has been known for his dramatic movies like Fracture and Drive and Emma Stone whose career has had a few comedic turns in movies like Superbad and Zombieland. She did show her dramatic strength in Birdman. The roles of Sebastian (Gosling) and Mia (Stone) required not just great acting but singing and dancing stamina. Gosling and Stone sang and danced into the audiences hearts and tugged at those very hearts with their dramatic performances. Writer–director Damien Chazelle takes a simple story of a jazz musician and an aspiring actress who meets and fall in modern Los Angeles. The movie opens on a crowded Los Angeles highway with cars lined up when people start getting out of their cars and start singing and dancing in a well choreographed number. The musical number is very good and expressive. As the highway musical number winds down, we see Sebastian in his older model car and Mia in her Prius going over her lines for an audition. As traffic loosens up, Mia doesn’t move as she is still is going over her lines and doesn’t notice Sebastian who is behind her, he drives around and yells at her. Mia returns with the middle finger as he drives off.
We find out that life is not going great for Sebastian because he is behind on his bills. He is working as a pianist at a restaurant. The restaurant owner, Bill play by JK Simmons tell Sebastian not to play jazz and to stick with the Christmas songs. Later on in the evening, Sebastian starts playing jazz. Mia works as a movie studio barista. One night, her roommates get her to go to a party. Later, Mia’s car is towed and she cannot get a cell phone signal so she starts walking back to the apartment. As Mia passes a restaurant she hears music and decides to go in. In the restaurant, she sees Sebastian being fired. As he is leaving, Mia approaches him but he gives her the cold shoulder as he goes right past her. Months later at a party, Mia spot Sebastian playing as a keyboardist for pop musical cover band. She makes a request for the band to play I Ran (So Far Away) by a Flock Of Seagulls. It is a very funny scene as Sebastian struggles to get through the song. Afterwards, Sebastian finds Mia. They give each other some sarcastic jabs. Afterwards, Sebastian walks Mia to her car. They slowly go into to a very cool song and dance sequence on a street overlooking Los Angeles. What I like about LA LA Land is its use of real Los Angeles locations that adds authenticity to the film. LA LA Land has a 30s and 40s Hollywood feel mixed with a modern-day realism. The film details Mia and Sebastian’s transition from like to love as they both tried to pursue their dreams. Another thing I enjoyed about LA LA Land was that they didn’t start a song at every moment like Glee, the former musical TV show did and most musicals have done. The musical numbers were well thought out and fit movie moments perfectly. I was surprised by singer John Legend’s acting and musical performances as Sebastian’s bandmate, Keith. LA LA Land has all the great classic elements in it, as boy and girl struggle to make it, boy and girl find each other and fall in love and then sing and dance about their trials and tribulations. LA LA Land is a movie that will entertain you, make you laugh and dance with your heart and possibly break your heart with its ending. Yet, it is all worth the cinematic dance you will go on with LA LA Land.