I remember the first time I saw you. It was a beautiful night outside and I had heard great things about you. There was a sincere beauty about you, but as much as I believed in love at first sight, I knew there had to be more to you. I sat in my seat and you could feel the electricity in the air all around. I wasn’t the only one you had cast your spell upon, but yet you still made me feel like I was. I waited eagerly for you to begin, as I did I could only think of the first time I saw you, and with that my face begin to light up.
The lights went down and there you were singing a tune that would set the mood. After a beautiful intro, we are introduced to Mia (Emma Stone), who is an aspiring actress. Mia is doing that thing every would-be actress does, reading her lines in traffic. Behind her is Sebastian (Ryan Gosling) who is not the happy guy, as Mia is impeding his progress. Sebastian and Mia’s life are in the same places, as they both try and follow their dreams. Mia can’t seem to get a part to save her life, and makes coffee on the Warner Brother’s lot to be near the movies. Sebastian on the other hand wants to open a jazz club, but instead keeps getting fired for not playing the songs a restaurant wants him to play. The pair it turns out are like two stars being drawn towards each other. It’s them together that at first, push each other way from their dream; only in the end push them back on course. Along the way we see a vibrant world filled with song and dance, and a whole lot of love.
I can only imagine Damien Chazelle was sitting in his room writing what to him would be the ultimate love letter to movies. Each stroke of his pen discovering in words that he would later turn into action. From beginning to end there is magic in the air as every moment unfolds before you. He uses color in a way that draws your attention and keeps it held for the entire runtime. Gosling and Stone delivered what Chazelle wanted, with a lighting bolt. Everything comes together with this film, as it will leave you smiling during and long after it is over. The feeling this movie gave me is the reason why I fell in love with movies in the first place. The joy and happiness they can fill you with when it all come together right can be hard to match in life. This is my love letter to “La La Land”, to let it know how it made me feel, and like with anything you love, I want to shout it out from the mountain top. So here I am shouting as loud as I can,so that all can hear me profess my love for this thing of beauty. And with the hope that you feel the same about it as I do.
