Welcome back to a new little series I’m calling ‘Friends Favourite Films’ – where every Monday, I’m welcoming a friend on to fivethreeninety to talk about what they love about their favourite film!
I have to say, I am really enjoying this series. I love hearing people talk about their favourite films, more so when it’s people I love and films I greatly admire too.
This week, I’m handing it over to one of my closest friends who I owe so much to, Ryan.
Take it away Ryan!
If you were tell me that one day, I would get a tattoo on my arm of my favourite film, then I would’ve laughed at you, mostly because I was terrified of getting tattoos once (lol) but I never thought a film could achieve such a bold risk from me. However, one film weaved itself into my life and changed so much of my dreams, perspective & foundations of who I was and who I wanted to be.
That film being the 13 time Oscar nominated masterpiece – La La Land.
Everyone who is even a fan of going the cinema should have some idea as to what this film is. It’s Damien’s love letter to cinema, it’s a musical, it features everyone’s number one man crush, Ryan Gosling & is set in the dream lands of L.A. Already in itself, this film has so many appealing factors to it for it to be watched by the masses. However, for those of you that are not too sure what La La Land is about (shame on you) here is a few sentences to maybe convince you to give it a go:
Mia & Sebastian, two struggling artists who maneuverer their way through the glorious sights of L.A, keep bumping into one another in different circumstances that leads to this blossoming of love that always grows between the two. However, their precious and dedicated career aspirations push the two into turmoil when trying to understand what it is they truly want.
Everything that occurred prior to the film that day still feels like such a blur to me. Almost like the film itself, I felt like I was in dreamed trance, finding it difficult to accept I was about to watch something that had been on my mind for months and months. Making out that it never really happened and I just dreamt up this perfect moment that couldn’t possibly exist. However, it was very real, and it was time to accept that I was about to watch it. No matter how fantasied it felt. I attended the film with my friends, who were as eager as me in anticipation for this film. I remember the old cinema room we were in – it was this wide long room that felt like an old theatre room (very poetic for the film) – we had our hot dogs delivered to us whilst waiting for the film to begin. There were a few old women to the far left of us. Maybe there were more in there, but by this point, my mind was just fixated on the excitement I had for this film.
The film would’ve been about 2 hours & 12 minutes in length. However, for myself, it was about… let’s say a lifetime? Yeah that sounds about right. This film drilled its heart and soul into me and nurtured itself a home and remained there… forever as far as I’m going to be aware. It was a feeling impossible to describe when leaving that theatre room. The mind was enriched with the films colours. My voice was silenced. It was like myself and my friends were all too scared to say the first words to what we watched. Almost like it was an insult no matter what we would say, because this film was too perfect to ever talk about.
Some of my first early thoughts at the time would’ve been — instantly enchanting and impossibly charming. A film that is both a throwback and a glance forward. This wholesome original musical comedy that buzzes with a golden age energy at the same time it bristles with contemporary verve. Chazelle’s film sings and swings its way off the screen, launching itself with undeniable joy into the hearts and minds of its audience. It is an experience like no other, one that pulses and bears with pure, cinematic bliss.
What La La Land bathes itself in is soaring & searing, yet so impressively grounded. It is a gleeful, heartfelt & masterful work of cinema that has transcended itself into a hall of fame of the greats. La La Land is as artful as it is accessible. A rhythmic example of classic form and contemporary spirt that positively bursts with narrative and technical appeal. Delightfully palpable and unforgettably perfect – La La Land is exuberant pop-art that refuses to do anything but fill you pleasing joy and love for our endless connection with cinema and dreams.
The fact that it has been a whole 2 years and 6 months since watching this film for the first time and I can whole-heartedly say that I have yet to have a better cinematic experience. There have been films that have come close (special mentions to The Shape of Water, Blade Runner 2049 & Midsommar). But La La Land has this special voice to it that understands those who have this budding dream – it knows you and understands you. That it was Damien did so well throughout this story of his. He connects with you in terms of the struggles of trying to find your place in this avalanche place of dreams and reality. A place where the masses of people with those same goals are in every direction and you need to find that spark that proves you’re better than them all. Just like ‘Someone in the Crowd’ tells you – all you need to do is keep working at what you love and hope there is that one person out there that has crazy idea to believe in you and what you can bring. Chazelle opens up that door so well and explores it with Mia and Sebastian’s relationship in finding that person/lover who will believe in you and everything you represent. Being that dreamer that dreams so much you can only be seen as foolish by the 99% who don’t believe in you.
And maybe that is why there is this elevated love I have for this film more than any of the others; because I am everything that this film is. I am that dreamer, that fool, that hopeless romantic. Someone who chases this dream that 99% time ends at the rock-solid wall that just can’t be taken down. The one that Mia constantly comes up against over and over and over again. The one where she has to give it everything she got, even though there are consequences to taking down that wall, she has to do it to get where she needs to go and to bathe in a life that only she knows. La La Land is so aware in itself of the consequences that comes with being a dreamer for just not yourself, but those around you. Which is masterful craft to a story that always seems so familiar in terms ‘they lived happily ever after’. Because the reality is, when getting something you have often always dreamed of, there has to be something left behind on the way. And you have to find ways to accept this, nurture it and use it to make your career you have worked for, the best one possible.
One of its most rewarding achievements is that La La Land hardly only exists on a thematic plane. Visually, the film is stunning. When it opts to embrace the musical element, the choreography is breathtaking. The costumes, the production design, and the extravagance of it all is awe-inspiring and precise to the very last detail. The use of colour is incredible with Chazelle largely working with a palette of red, blue, green, yellow, and pink. All incredibly vibrant throughout and contributing to the kinetic and magical feeling of the film as a whole, the colour scheme is simply incredibly visually alluring. Chazelle certainly plays into this with many scenes containing all five or, in the case of a few shots where the camera spins violently around the room, blend together. La La Land is a film about many things, but one of them is most certainly colour.
On a more upfront level, La La Land still remains perfect. With brilliant lead performances from Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone, who have great chemistry as always, La La Land creates terrific characters who are enjoyable to watch and multi-dimensional. The film’s production design, costume design, and makeup/hairstyling, are all perfect and highlight the beauty of its leads, its nostalgic setting, and its narrative. Musically, La La Land is top-notch. With many classic melodies played throughout the film, Chazelle largely uses music that contributes both to the nostalgia and the magical dream world he has created in this film. Just as Mia is transported to a nostalgic world where she and Sebastian wound up together and everything was great, the audience is transported through the music. With the brilliant original song “City of Stars“, Chazelle creates a song that is entirely modern, yet feels nostalgic and, as such, transports the audience to a bygone era that solely exists in our minds.
A subversion of musicals, a celebration of the past, and a critique of nostalgia, Damien Chazelle’s La La Land is a masterpiece. End of story. There was not a film released that year that was better than it and it is not even close. The best film of 2016 by a musical mile, La La Land is a gorgeously crafted, smart, and subversive film with phenomenal direction, great acting, and is a chaotically beautiful film.
I will never forget participating in such a dreamlike perfect cinematic experience. One that led me to going the cinema 7 times to watch it. Hell, literally after the first viewing of the film, we waited 20 minutes and went straight back to the second screening of the film because of the love and feeling that was left in us after witnessing such perfection. And ever since then, I have found myself always revisiting La La Land. When the sun shines high or when the rain falls hard, there is always a mood for watching La La Land. For me, that mood is at least every few weeks. Wanting to feel inspired and reminded that it is possible to achieve those dreams of yours no matter how stuck you are in that fantasy of yours.
P.S – that tattoo I have is the scene from ‘A Lovely Night’ when they both perform the dance that was seen on every poster ever that was seen for this film.
I once drunk watched La La Land with Ryan and a friend at like 2am, and I can confirm – we all cried. I can also confirm that Ryan’s tattoo is really cool.
Thank you for coming on board Ryan – it was a pleasure to have you here!
Follow Ryan on twitter
Past guest bloggers:
Robyn talks about Singin’ in the Rain
Jamie talks about Call Me By Your Name
Want to get involved? Send me an email: maddylloydjones@live.co.uk
fivethreeninety 
I enjoyed La La Land when I first saw it- and later when I saw it again, I enjoyed it more than the last time. It is the classic feel of the older musicals mixed with a contemporary nature. It brings you back to those classic musicals- the ones found in the Golden Age
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