By: Keaton Marcus

PREFACE:

Damien Chazelle is one of the hottest young directors working in Hollywood today. His second feature film, La La Land, proved to be a second consecutive masterpiece after the behemoth of his debut, Whiplash. It garnered universal praise from nearly everyone who saw it, was a massive success at the box office and the Academy Awards, and overall, became an instant modern classic. On the surface, one can inherently view this as a fun, if simplistic musical romance about the ferocious chasing of dreams. There isn't anything wrong with that take, but it's obvious. I'm not here to explain to readers that this film is the most profoundly layered piece of cinema ever to be witnessed, but I am indeed here to provide new, perhaps more exciting interpretations to this gloriously joyful comfort movie.

CONTRASTS OF IDEALIZATION AND MUNDANITY:

Chazelle opens the film with a criminally hot LA summer day on the highway, almost entirely blocked by traffic. Horns are honking, people are getting antsy in their seats, and it's ultimately just irritating to our characters. It's universally personal as well. This feeling of being hopelessly stuck on a busy road, unable to get out, coupled with scorching weather. However, then Chazelle abruptly begins a dance number, commencing the contrast with the idealization of an otherwise crummy day. People start frolicking and singing jovially, tapping their feet on top of cars, with artificially bright smiles plastered on their faces. It's the ideal, perfect world that we turn to during a nightmare (traffic), making beauty out of what we would typically perceive as banal. Would this happen in the real world? No. This is left for the fantastical world of musicals, where absolutely anything can occur. Just when it seems like nothing could go wrong, this lovely sequence is cut short by reality. Everyone stops dancing, returns to their cars, and Chazelle reveals Mia and Sebastian in their separate vehicles. This mundane reality that viewers know all too well is a clear opposition to the illusions of dreams. The constant clash between ideals and reality is ever-present with our two main characters in the next few scenes. Mia is an aspiring actress who's stuck frantically searching for auditions while working at a coffee shop. Sebastian is a struggling musician who dreams of opening a club but is ultimately thrown into the reality that people care less and less about jazz these days.

SWITCHES IN MUSIC AND COSTUME:

Even the actual songs, which make up most of the film's first act, tell stories of aspirations and hopes that may never come into realization. The music here primarily represents the fierce hunger they both have to accomplish something beautiful, perhaps a fight against the cruel reality we all live in. This act is more of a glamorization of Los Angeles than a focus on actualization, which comes into play later. Viewers who dub the entire film masturbatory of its setting should note that there's a significant switch in musical numbers and costume design as we head into the second and third acts. There are rarely any songs in the second act, more made up of long conversations between our main characters. This chronicles the shift in Mia and Sebastian's respective mentalities. In the beginning, it was all about finding what they wanted, and now, it's about the techniques they will employ to achieve them. Now, onto the dressing side of things. Overall, this film uses color excellently, but it's mainly with Mia's clothing. In the first act, her entire wardrobe is bright and exuberant, screaming ambition. As the film chugs along, her clothing gradually becomes darker and darker until it's completely black in the final scene. It feels more realistic and grounded, another significant distinction from the style before. This big transformation in attire represents Mia's dreams becoming a reality, and although we should be glad, it's also the inevitable end to the romance she had with Sebastian. These two people initially met because they shared needs for dreams, yet they part when they accomplish them. It's no question that they loved each other, but it does bring to question if their relationship was generally based on their mutual desire to succeed.

THE BEGINNING OF DREAMS IS THE END OF ROMANCE:

Sacrifice to achieve what one wants in life is a present theme in this movie, and it is accentuated the most at the turning point of the second act. For Mia, it's not waiting for a great script to come along to her; it's writing one herself. On the other hand, Sebastian plays music that he doesn't like at concerts for good money until he has the wealth to open a club. Unfortunately, the chase for their dreams tears their originally unbreakable bond apart. They don't do the stuff they love together, seeing each other less consistently before one argument finally drives Mia away. The jealousy, prioritization of dreams in the relationship, and divisive scheduling tumble the building blocks that constructed the admiration in the first place. The only way to truly become what they've always aspired to be is to leave each other and cease the complementary support that comes with their relationship. I would argue that this adds a sense of realism that we don't commonly see with musicals, grounding the film extraordinarily well.

FINALITY THROUGH REMORSEFUL ACCOMPLISHMENT:

The actual ending (which is one of my all-time favorites in cinema) looks at the fulfillment of Mia and Sebastian's dreams. Mia lives the life of Hollywood fame as a celebrated actress, married happily with a child. Sebastian has his jazz club, and saying business is good would be an understatement. These are the lives our protagonists have lusted over from the very start, but is there inevitable regret to their comforting happiness? I would firmly say that Chazelle intended for the conclusion to be severely bittersweet, an amalgamation of joy and sorrow. Before the final moment of the film, Mia has a dream sequence of another life. This life still consists of the success she has in reality, but it's with Sebastian. It feels authentic, pure, and bereft of the certain hollowness she feels now. Then, we have the melancholic final shot of the two glancing at each other in Sebastian's club before they both ease out a slight smile. It's a smile of acceptance for sure, but also of painful remorse. Things could have gone differently, and the chance has been missed.