WASHINGTON, February 5, 2017 – Though they seem to go into and out of fashion, movie musicals have been a longstanding part of the lifeblood of Hollywood cinema. As a genre, the movie musical one of the oldest, and because its roots are so tied to the Hollywood structure of filmmaking, it’s become a beloved tradition that’s revived again and again just when you think it’s gone out of style.
This, at least in part, explains the sudden attention “La La Land” has been getting ever since it started making the rounds on the festival circuit in late 2016. What’s old is new again in this film, whose music and reliable genre clichés have been freshened up and brightened once again, the better to appeal to a 21 st century audience.
One of the reasons musicals gradually disappeared from movie palaces since their mid- 20 th century peak is relatively easy to explain: the novelty wore out. While stage musicals remain alive and kicking though currently over-exposed, they lose some of their luster when they get translated to the silver screen. Novelties like the evolution toward color films, larger screens and better sound eventually ran their course, even as such films lost a great deal of that live-theater intimacy in the process of film and sound editing.
While not all musicals are bright and cheery throughout, it’s the kind of atmosphere they traditionally promoted. After all, it’s easier to get lost in paper-thin narrative when everything surrounding a story line is beautiful and engaging and when it’s all expressed in memorable tunes. Musicals don’t have to necessarily be deep in execution just so long as their escapist dreams remain intact, particularly in those big, exuberant production numbers where everything wonderful seems possible.
This is exactly the kind of environment “La La Land” provides its audience the very moment it launches its opening number. Without involving either of the film’s central characters, this opening song and dance sequence sets the tone for the entire film, acting very much like a traditional Broadway overture foreshadowing the action even before the action starts. It succinctly projects the atmosphere of the city where these characters live, drawing the audience into that environment in the process.
The opening sequence eschews glamorous Hollywood film clichés and presents Los Angeles as the sprawling, traffic-clogged ideological mess it really is. It’s in many ways the high water mark of the film, something that might even be extracted and run on its own as an extended music video. The following trailer will give you a sample.
At the same time, it’s an absolutely wonderful example of the heights “La La Land” tries to reach through the traditional magic of the movie musical. Pulsating like the big city itself, its opening number is the only moment in the film that employs a large cast depicting a kaleidoscope of diverse people that can be found at the core Los Angeles. In keeping with these atmospherics, the camera weaves its way from car to car, giving the illusion that the sequence is being filmed in one cut. This is precisely the king of illusion a musical can pull off beautifully in film. It can’t be so thrillingly replicated in any other medium.
Director Damien Chazelle, cinematographer Linus Sandgren, choreographer Mandy Moore, and the film’s editor Tom Cross pulled off an absolutely amazing feat here, given how many moving parts they’re working. This opener is fantastically energizing and seamless, setting a tone of bedazzlement as a “Another Day of Sun” captures perfectly the mystique Los Angeles possesses both culturally and individually for Mia (Emma Stone) and Sebastian (Ryan Gosling), the movie’s pair of romantic leads.
Alas, “La La Land” never hits these heights again. The opening sequence is painted on as large a canvas as Chazelle can conceive. But the movie he has in mind is far more personal and intimate. For that reason, the opening sequence acts like a trailer-teaser, a commercial to sell the audience on a film that’s really about the dreams Mia and Sebastian—dreams that can only unfold for them within their concept of LA. They can’t envision their best selves existing anywhere else, and the world becomes small.
Both characters are in love with the idea of the city. That fuels their budding romance, which is really the heart of this film.
Mia wants to be an actress. She walks starry-eyed through the Hollywood sets where she works as a barista, auditioning for roles between shifts. For his part, Sebastian is a piano player by trade, driven by visions of opening his own jazz nightclub. Their meeting and courtship is the real heart of the film’s narrative.
But every movie musical needs a conflict to arise. As we meet them, Mia and Sebastian are adrift and discover one another because they share a sense of wonder, frustration and longing. They’re willing to enter each other’s life after enduring a series of disappointments. Hence, their initial eagerness to make their new romantic attachment work.
Mia wants to get out of the rut she’s gotten into by haphazardly chasing her dream and refusing to give us. Sebastian is actually looking for almost any avenue where he can share his love of jazz and the culture that surrounds it. Neither is specifically looking for a partner. Yet their mutual need for with sharing their artistic trials and tribulations leads easily into an unexpected romance.
A pair of musical set pieces bookend their courtship. “City of Stars” unfolds as the pair gets together to search for Mia’s car. Later, Mia, after hearing Sebastian play “Mia and Sebastian’s Theme,” is almost immediately smitten with him, a feeling he doesn’t fully return until they attend a party and take a walk together. The musical give and take here is a playful moment for them both as they prance about overlooking the valley as the sun sets in the west.
The musical number “Planetarium” marks the continuation of their courtship, as both Mia and Sebastian put their feelings essentially on the line. Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling have been in a number of films previously. Their onscreen chemistry has been duly noted, and it really shines through in number as their characters go overboard for each other.
As a set scene, “Planetarium” highlights the whimsical reality that “La La Land” successfully creates by taking advantage of the well-known LA landmarks that ooze cinematic history. But it also provides the kind of romantic energy that inspires the best of Hollywood musicals
Unfortunately, it’s just after these scintillating scenes depicting Mia and Sebastian’s courtship that cracks start to appear in the story line of “La La Land,” and much of this has to do with the central flaw in the film’s lead characters. Despite a professed interest in artistic endeavors, neither Mia nor Sebastian see themselves as creators.
