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Pinkvilla Picks: Why Ryan Gosling & Emma Stone starrer La La Land ages like old wine on repeat viewing
La La Land, which may have lost to Moonlight at the Oscars for Best Picture, but has a fandom of itself! It's for the lost and the found, it's for the young and the old, it's for the hopelessness of love and love, in itself. Read below to know why I felt La La Land should be a part of your quarantine movie watching list.
As I began writing this piece, I couldn't help but revisit the trailer of La La Land. Titled Dreamers, the trailer, which now stands at 37 million views, is a movie within itself. Your first thought would most probably be "spectacular!" Your second thought might be bordering on "larger than life!" While both terms are apt for Damien Chazelle's directorial, La La Land is so much more! It's storytelling and filmmaking at it's finest. At the core, it's Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone who tell us a story of the hopelessness of love and love, in itself.
In case you're amongst those who gave La La Land amiss, the film kickstarts on a stereotypical note with Sebastian Wilder (Ryan Gosling), a struggling jazz artist meeting Mia Dolan (Emma Stone), an aspiring actress by fate and eventually, with time, a love story is formed. However, underlying that love story is reality and the problems that come not just as a couple but as individuals. At the same time, you are also transformed into a suspension of disbelief as the cracks begin to crumble for the couple. Whether it be the gorgeous LA sky skimmed in hues of purple or Sebastian and Mia's love for tap dancing and all things retro, the colourful flavours of La La Land suck you right in and leave you hooked, line and sinker.
You can tell that La La Land is all heart and soul! Even the characteristics of Sebastian and Mia are so distinctive yet they fall into the same bandwagon of trials and tribulations. You tend to see yourself in a Sebastian or a Mia, in both the happy and sad times. "City of stars, are you shining just for me? City of stars, you never shined so brightly," Seb ponders during a mundane walk near Hermosa Beach Pier as we're enveloped with the warm, fuzzy feeling of relatability. However, as much as attention is provided on the struggles, it's the eventuality of loving someone with all you have, that sticks to you with La La Land!
It was several weeks after La La Land released in India that I went, on my own, with a ton of cheese popcorn, to a nearly empty theatre. I was looking for a nice 'guilty pleasure' romantic comedy, but what I ended up with an otherwordly experience! Just like Sebastian and Mia transported to a third-dimensional viewpoint, so did I. I laughed. I wept. I danced. I sang. I felt! I truly felt! I empathised with Seb wanting to give up as well as Mia's anxiousness regarding her 'toss a coin' future. It was a 128-minute roller-coaster ride of emotions that is etched in my memory forever! The last time I was left so besotted by a cinematic piece was Vikramaditya Motwane's Lootera. Both movies screamed at me in the subtlest of ways. It broke me, yet I was filled with hope!
That's why, I can truly attest to the fact that La La Land, for me, is like old wine that just gets better with time and repeated viewing. It's extravagantly quiet and bittersweet, but it still leaves you with a smile on your face. Damn, that look in the end!
In parting, I leave you with these gorgeous lines crooned by a heartbroken yet full of hope Mia Dolan: "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."
