In many ways, I felt that La La Land, the eponymous studio city of Damien Chazelle's smashing new film, is like our very own Bombay.
And that is not only because this is a city that produces million-dollar cinematic dreams or has residents drunk on its star-studded pomp and show but this is also a city in which it could be Christmas and still the sun could be shining brightly as ever.
And indeed, as this swooning and swinging new-age musical begins and ends, with a title announcing it as Winter, we see sun-kissed fun and frolic all around- with the girls still wearing their gay summer dresses with splashes of colours that could have belonged to the spunky cocktails served at the gala parties that they attend. The sun shines as brightly as ever and everyone dances and celebrates as gaily as ever. Yet, as the season changes to spring and then to summer, we see all the pretty things cavort in poolside parties and even the tinsel town turns leafy and languid with love.
It is this rapturous attention to detail that makes so much of 'La La Land' truly eye-popping as a spectacle scored to incredible, irresistibly melodious music. It is not just a swinging, stunning musical for ages; it is also a lavishly crafted feast of cinema that feels like the stuff of dreams. I mean it literally.
Hollywood is after all a fabled land of our most fervent fantasies and yet it has, as demonstrated by David Lynch's unforgettable 'Mulholland Drive', the cruel power to shatter all of them with the blow of harsh reality. Reality, in Chazelle's world, however, takes a reluctant backseat and this is how we kickstart things on a truly grand scale- with a spell-binding prelude that has all these starry-eyed and naive dreamers alighting like screen gods from their fancy sedans stranded in inexorable traffic and shaking their legs and crooning their hearts out, before eventually returning to the humdrum reality of the situation. It is a moment that is to be seen to be believed.
Among these dreamers, we have our film's lovably vulnerable leads- barista-cum-wannabe actress Mia rehearsing her audition lines mid-traffic and jazz pianist Sebastian, who is impatient to steer his elegant convertible through the crowd. The sparks are all too evident between the two right in this first moment of happenstance and as the two stumble into each other from time, what we have in hands is the setup of a purely giddy romance in the making.
There is nothing overtly spectacular about both of them: she loves acting, he loves classic jazz and yet it is wonderfully refreshing to see how Chazelle plays with these fundamental aspirations with a laid-back refrain and instead captures the gushingly effervescent charm between the two. Their first waltz together bursts with pluck- he starts humming while she keeps on hunting, with her vivid eyes, for her car and a couple of minutes later, we see them matching each other step for step, tapping their feet with all the urge to get talking and to get the inevitable things started. There is a special sense of magic in the way how Sebastian kicks off some dust as if to egg her to join him or how Mia rejoins Sebastian's own singing with spunky defiance.
The two make such a naturally charming couple- watch him gush about the painstaking importance of jazz and her wondering if elevator music could also qualify as jazz since it is so soothing- that we already start wondering: is it right that they should break up? Yet, 'La La Land' never forgets that it is the pursuit of some dreams (and the inevitable reality in the periphery) that can always break other fantasies in the process.
Does it sound all too serious? Chazelle's film is far from serious and is flushed, instead, with an enthralling sense of optimism that never feels out of hand. Even the more heartbreaking moments are bits that he plays confidently like a gifted musician, with an ear for poignant melody and an eye for the odd but most welcome nuance or detail. Sebastian tinkering on his piano and singing 'City Of Stars' along with Mia underscores a crushingly tender moment when both are forging their own paths that would lead, tragically, to them going apart. Later on, a dinner that turns disastrous ends with an overcooked meal and creative disillusionment is expressed with a touch of hilarity as an ageing and wizened photographer asks Sebastian to pose while playing a tune.
Visually and thematically, this is a frequently beautiful film. Chazelle's last film 'Whiplash' was a sizzling drama of a rookie's pursuit of greatness punctuated with blood, sweat, toil and tears and his love for the cinematic format is all too evident in its slinky, sleekly edited frames. But this is something else already. 'La La Land' revels in literal explosions of colour- from the Technicolor-tinted bedrooms and striped sofas to the candy-coloured jackets and gowns of the men and women to even the stain of spilled coffee on Mia's shirt. The musical numbers, in particular that prelude, are choreographed with a seamless balance of grace and full-blown splendour- when Linus Sandgren's cameras sneak up close to Mia in midst of a celebration, it also pulls out of her magnificently, the rejoicing crowds around her frozen for a moment before it all starts again. The cinematography is vibrant, energetic and frequently poetic and profound in the fashion of those classic Hollywood musicals. And It is simply marvellous to see one of the dancing crowds- a tie-wearing office worker hesitate in a moment of inspiration before letting a bunch of musicians let it rip- and it is equally heart-rending to see Mia break into a song mid-audition, a rousing celebration of the rebel inside us all. Wow.
And we could not have asked for a better cast for this. Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone are endearingly spectacular as Sebastian and Mia and while they are far from being great crooners, the natural sincerity in their young voices is remarkable. Gosling is proving to be great in playing deadpan humour with affable ease while Stone uses her marvellous eyes to great effect, especially when gazing at her partner with amazed wonder, skepticism and, at times, a little of both. The two also get their moment in the sun- in a magical scene that defies logic and ground rules and has them swaying under, as Bowie would have said, 'the serious moonlight'.
And yet, it is at the end when Chazelle presents his final grand trick- a stunning, drop-dead gorgeous epilogue of literal wish-fulfilment that is to be seen to be believed in all its gorgeous and throbbing emotion. But by now, we all know why 'La La Land' is so special- it is a film about dreams that believes in them and tells us all to dream, even in the face of reality. Watch it, in stunning CinemaScope no less, and tell me if your bird can sing.
My Rating - 5 Stars Out Of 5.
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