La La Land

"People love what other people are passionate about."

Mia Dolan (Stone) is a struggling actress.  She lives with three other aspiring actresses: Alexis (Rothe), Caitlyn (Mizuno), and Tracy (Hernandez), and works in a coffee shop on the Warner Brothers Studios lot.  While walking home after a party, she hears a jazz song and enters the restaurant where she first sees Sebastian (Gosling).  Sebastian Wilder is a jazz musician with dreams of opening his own jazz club, but spends his time playing piano wherever he can.

Sebastian and Mia officially meet a few months later at a party.  They have a spark and start to spend time together, sharing their dreams for the future.  Their relationship sparks both to make big life changes.  Mia is inspired to quit her job and start writing a play.  Sebastian joins a pop-jazz group, led by his old friend Keith (Legend), to make money for his club.  Can their relationship survive success and pursuing their dreams?


I just saw this film (my first film in theaters in 2017).  Prior to seeing it, I saw a clip of Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone dancing (during the song "A Lovely Night") and I knew it was a musical.  I also knew that it won a record 7 Golden Globes and most people that it (meaning, my friends who saw it) were disappointed with the ending, but otherwise I went into the film blind.  And I am so glad I did.

I love musicals and this film does not disappoint.  The songs are written by Justin Hurwitz and are beautiful.  "City of Stars" and "Mia and Sebastian's Theme" are standouts, but all of the songs are great.  The song lyrics are by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul.  John Legend, who also appears in the film as Keith, wrote and performed the song "Start a Fire" in the film (he also learned to play the guitar).  Ryan Gosling took piano lessons and memorized the songs, so that he could play the piano in the film.  The film also features wonderful jazz performers.

All three films that director Damien Chazelle directed (Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench and Whiplash) are focused on jazz musicians.  He also wrote all three films.  Chazelle won 2 Golden Globes for this film, Best Director and Best Screenplay, and has been nominated for several other awards for this film.

The dancing is also wonderful in this film.  All of the dances were choreographed by Mandy Moore (not the actress).  Moore is best known for her choreography on the TV show So You Think You Can Dance.  The film is colorful and fun from the beginning, but it doesn't shy away from showing some depth and emotion.  It skirts the line between reality and a dream successfully.

The cast is great.  The film focuses on Emma Stone's Mia and Gosling's Sebastian, and as usual both are great here.  This is the third film collaboration between Stone and Gosling (after Crazy, Stupid Love and Gangster Squad).  They have great chemistry and are good with the singing and dancing.  Gosling was on the Mickey Mouse Club and part of a band, and Stone starred in "Cabaret" on Broadway, so both have the musical talents.  The rest of the cast pops in and out of the film as the important/influential people in their lives.  J.K. Simmons, who won the Oscar for Chazelle's Whiplash, has a brief cameo as Sebastian's jazz-hating boss.

I truly enjoyed this film.  The music and dancing are great, and reminiscent of classic musicals (think Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire films).  And I hope it does well at the 2017 Academy Awards.

La La Land (2016) 128 minutes
Rating: PG-13 for some language
Director: Damien Chazelle
Starring: Ryan Gosling as Sebastian Wilder
Emma Stone as Mia Dolan
John Legend as Keith
Rosemarie DeWitt as Laura
Jessica Rothe as Alexis
Sonoya Mizuno as Caitlyn
Callie Hernandez as Tracy