La la Land

La La Land - Here's to the ones who dream

 Big dreams. Big ambitions. Love and passion. Who makes the world spin around? How do we realize our dreams? This is what La La Land is about. Damien Chazelle tells us the story of an aspiring actress and an ambitious jazz pianist who cross passes and fall for each other. This is a story about dreams. It's magical and escapist, yet overwhelmingly realistic.  Chazelle doesn't shy away from showing us the pains and sacrifices we must go through in order to make our dreams come true. We are immersed in the alluring city of Los Angeles, a city that is like a deceiving siren, in one of the most beautiful musicals of all time (and, I even dare to say, one of the best in the history of cinema), as we follow the lives of these two people with big ambitions and the conflict between their love and dreams. La La Land will inspire you, dazzle you and make you fall in love. This is a film for dreamers.

 We are introduced to this musical with a colorful choreography in an L.A. highway under the smoldering South Californian sun. We hear the music from the radios of the cars. Slowly we start to hear a faint tune that starts to stand out as we approach one of the cars. Inside it, there's a woman singing Another Day of Sun, a song about how even when you fail to accomplish your goals, or you are faced with a setback, it's not the end of the world - there's always another day of sun for us to reach our goals. People join in to sing and dance on the cars. People join in on their daily pursuit of personal fulfillment. We see people of all backgrounds dancing together, sharing their experiences - we are enriched by the contact with people with different experiences and cultures. This introduction is almost a summary of what is going to happen in this film and of its message.

 In La La Land, we follow Mia and Sebastian - played by Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling, both incredibly astounding, as always - an aspiring actress and a jazz pianist who wants to open a club. We follow them during the four seasons of the year: Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall. We start in the winter when the ground is still barren, and they don't know each other. We follow them separately. Mia, in her job in a coffee shop, and in an audition, where she is completely ignored for the hundredth time, where there are dozens of other actresses just like her, almost like bad copies. Sebastian, as he goes to have breakfast near his dream club, like a stalking ex-boyfriend, and as he plays piano in a restaurant for a few bucks.

 We follow Mia as she goes to a party in Hollywood, expectant that she will find someone - or rather, be found by someone. In one of the most brilliant scenes, in terms of editing, in this musical, we see her as she tries to include herself in this alien world of stars and showbiz. Her friends convince her to come to this party, telling her that, if she wants to be someone and accomplish her dreams, she has to find that "someone" who will take her where she wants to go - the struggle of the ambitious actor. In the party, She tries to impress "movie people" who look at her with disinterest. After being almost sexually harassed, she goes to the bathroom. In a still and quiet moment, almost an oasis of silence, she questions this frenzy of ambition: "Is someone in the crowd the only thing you really see? /Watching while the world keeps spinning 'round?". She decides that there's somewhere she will find who she's going to be and leaves the party, as the Hollywood frenzy goes on without her.

 On her way home, Mia passes by a restaurant and hears a tune that catches her attention. She enters it and sees him, dashing and passionate. The way he passionately plays the piano bedazzles and bewitches her. Sebastian is completely immersed in his improvisation. This is brilliantly shown in the film by the way all the lights fade out and a spotlight lights up over him, making us see only him. This is how you feel when you are completely immersed in your music - everything else seizes to exist, there's only you and your instrument, nothing else matters. He finishes his improv and gets up. Sebastian and Mia lock eye contact for a lingering moment - the first time they see each other. Sebastian is fired for not sticking to the setlist he was given. When he is leaving the restaurant, Mia tries to talk to him, but he ignores her.

 Spring starts - the seeds of love have been planted and they start to bud. Mia and Sebastian find themselves in the same party in Hollywood - her as a guest, him a member of the band playing at the party. Mia finds herself surrounded by self-indulgent actors and screenwriters. Sebastian finds himself playing songs he doesn't want to play.

 One of the things I want to talk about is the portrayal of Hollywood and L.A. in this musical. Many people have said that this is a love letter to Hollywood. I completely disagree with this. La La Land is, deep down, a big criticism of Hollywood and its system. The city may be filmed with beautiful cinematography and it may have a romantic undertone, but Damien Chazelle is always poking fun at Hollywood and showing the ugly part of this town at any chance he gets! Be it when Mia is in an audition and gets constantly ignored, or when she's surrounded by people who think they are the center of the world, a constant in the showbiz and art scene - trust me, I know what I'm talking about - or when Sebastian has to play in a "pop jazz" band in order to make money or when he sees his favourite jazz place being turned into a 'samba and tapas' place. This film doesn't portray Hollywood as a utopic, perfect land where all dreams come true. It portrays Hollywood as a hostile jungle of people fighting each other so they can stay afloat in this sea ambitions. A place with absolutely no values whatsoever, just "whatever makes money". An ugly town hiding under the veil of beauty and glamour. It doesn't hide the reality of the world of showbusiness and what it takes to be successful in it.

 But Mia and Sebastian don't have to face the world alone - none of us do. They find each other - they are the "someone in the crowd" for each other. In that evening, as they look at the beautiful sunset colors over Los Angeles, they start to dance together and fall in love. Sebastian goes to see Mia at the café she's working at, and after her shift ends, they walk together in the Warner Brothers studio lot, talking about their passions. Mia talks about how she fell in love with acting when she was a child and wrote plays for herself. She talks about how she dropped out of college to become an actress, but she hasn't been lucky yet. "Should've been a lawyer", she sighs. "'Cause the world needs more lawyers", Sebastian says, sarcastically. Sebastian talks about his passion for jazz and teaches her how to love and understand this genre and its meaning when they go to a jazz club after Mia tells him that she hates jazz.

 Their romance completely blossoms after a night they spend in the Griffith Observatory, in one of the most beautiful sequences of the film, as they soar among the stars - how it feels to be passionately in love - and they share their first kiss in the climax of that sequence.

 Summer starts - the love between Mia and Sebastian is at its highest point.

 Their relationship is almost a symbiosis. Sebastian and Mia share their knowledge of life and experiences, maturing and growing together. They exchange their passions and support each other. Sebastian, with his passionate and romantic (not a dirty word!) view of life, insists that Mia can't be so insecure about herself and must take risks for her dreams. He convinces her to write and perform a one-woman play for herself, which could be the thing that lifts her to stardom - we can't be found if we don't show to the world who we are and what we are capable of doing. Mia supports Sebastian in his quest for opening a club where everyone can play whatever they want, giving him ideas for that dream club. He joins the band of an old friend, with a little push from Mia so he can make money to achieve that dream. They both start to have big successes. Their dreams are finally coming true. They are the anchor for each other in this city of stars, giving each other everything they can, supporting each other.

 But, like every flame, the fire of their passion starts to burn out, as their relationship starts to create hindrances for their ambitions. They try to reconcile their love and their dreams - but Fall is starting.

 Sebastian and his band stat to have a lot of success and he spends less and less with Mia in L.A., and she is busy rehearsing for her play. In a night that is supposed to be romantic, they have a big fight. Mia questions Sebastian about his intention of staying in the band, if he still wants to open a jazz club and fulfill his dream. Sebastian says that maybe she only wanted to be with him when he wasn't having success so she could feel better about herself. The support they were giving to each other starts to turn against them and transform into knives of sourness.

 The day of Mia's play comes. It's a failure, almost nobody shows up, including Sebastian, who misses it because of a photo shoot he had forgotten - the failure in the reconciliation of love and ambition. Mia feels betrayed and tired, and so, she returns to her hometown and abandons Sebastian.

 But something happens. Sebastian gets a call from a big casting director who wants to speak to Mia and audition her for a big movie. Sebastian drives to Mia's hometown seeing that this could be an opportunity for her - this is what true love is about- He convinces her to go to the audition, even though she's reluctant at first.

 The audition scene is one of my favorite scenes in the entire film because of its stark contrast with all the other scenes. All the other scenes are extremely colorful and technically complex. This one impresses due to its simplicity and sobriety, which gives a whole new depth of emotion to it. We only see Mia, she's showing herself as she is, hiding nothing - she's figuratively naked. She tells the story of when her aunt went to Paris and jumped into the river Seine. She sings about the dreamers of the world - that crazy and foolish species - the ones whose hearts break and the messes they make. The ones that dream that we could make a better world. This scene is a true love letter to all the dreamers of the world. It's so beautiful and powerful I struggle to find words to describe it. Damien Chazelle urges every big dreamer out there to do something, take a risk, do something crazy, because the world needs them. He urges everyone to take that jump into the Seine, to do anything to make our dreams come true because that's what we live for, and dreamers make the world liveable.

  Afterward, Mia and Sebastian meet in the Griffith Park and have their last conversation before they part ways. They give each other their last shove in the right direction.

 Winter returns, a new cycle starts. Five years pass.

 Mia is a successful A-list actress. Sebastian opens his dream jazz club. They both realized their dreams. Yet, they didn't stay together. They had to sacrifice something. Mia is married and has a daughter. Sebastian is still single.

 In one of the nights that Mia and her husband are in L.A., they happen to pass by a jazz club. He gets interested in the music playing inside the club and they go in. When she enters the club, she looks at the name at the entrance and realizes where she is. Seb's is the name, with the design she had suggested Sebastian all those years ago - they hadn't forgotten each other. Mia and her husband sit. Sebastian comes on stage and presents the band just played. Suddenly, he notices Mia in the audience. He stops. They look at each other for a breath-taking moment. I believe it's completely impossible to breathe in this short moment. "Welcome to Seb's", he whispers into the mic, in an ambiguous tone, as if he's directing this directly at Mia. He starts to play their music on the piano. The music has a message - Sebastian is communicating something to Mia, like the people who invented Jazz did in New Orleans.

 We are transported five years back, to that bar where they first saw each other. However, when Mia goes to talk to her, instead of being curt, he gives her a passionate kiss. And so, starts a dreamy and, at the same time, heart-breaking sequence of "what could have been". We see them having their dreams come true and be able to maintain their relationship alive. In this beautifully unrealistic and oneiric sequence, they dance in a film studio world, a fake world where dreams come true without any pain - the world shown in Old Hollywood movies. This sequence serves to please our need o see them together and living happily ever after, but also to highlight that this traditional narrative is just a lie that we tell ourselves - there isn't a "happily ever after". We can't be successful and be free of any pain and sacrifice. It brilliantly adds to the realism of this masterpiece through its obvious unrealism.

 After this sequence ends, Mia leaves the club. But when she's about to leave, she stops. She looks back. Sebastian looks back at her. At this moment, they understand their love wasn't in vain. If they hadn't loved each other they wouldn't be where they are.  They would have never matured and learned what they had learned. If they hadn't loved each other they would never have been successful. And here, in this complicit look between Mia and Sebastian, lies one of the most important messages of La La Land - no relationship that we have is in vain, we always learn something from everyone that we encounter in the journey of life. They smile at each other, knowing that they are still important to each and still love each other. Nothing was in vain.

 La La Land is a love letter to all the dreamers and lovers of the world. It's a film about love, dreams, and life itself. It's about what we must face in our journey and it's incredibly honest about the pain that lies in our way. Chazelle urges us to keep on dreaming and to value every relationship that we have. No dream is too big or too small. This is one of the most inspiring films out there and it has a very special place in my heart. I hope it also inspired other dreamers all over the world.

Here's to the ones who dream

Foolish as they may seem

Here's to the hearts that ache

Here's to the mess we make.