Damien Chazelle, you dirty dog.
I went to the theater today to see La La Land in Dolby Cinema at my AMC for their 10th anniversary. I remember going to the theaters to see it the first time around, I think this was during my Movie Pass days.
A (mini) Tangent
For those that don’t know, Movie Pass was (still is, just in a different form) a company that let you see a movie once a day for $10 a month. I used and abused this company. I would constantly go to my local theater. It was a bit obtuse; you had to be within a certain distance from the theater, check in, and purchase your ticket using a Movie Pass credit card at the box office. I kept it until it went under in 2019 and have been an AMC A-Lister ever since.
Please tell me I’m not the only lunatic that still has his Movie Pass credit card as a keepsake.
(Too much) Information on Dinkleberg
Anyways, I saw this film at probably the perfect time. I had just gotten out of the Marines and was finally going to study (drumroll, please) jazz at a four-year university! I’m a trumpet player (and piano, guitar, and banjo to lesser extents) and when I saw Sebastian (Ryan Gosling) on screen, I was seeing a more handsome, piano-playing version of myself. It’s why I love this film so much. I see so much of myself in it.
For example, after the stunning intro song, We float over to Sebastian’s car where he’s rewinding a three-second section of a song (sounds like Thelonius Monk. I’m sorry, I’m totally that guy) ad nauseum. It’s such a real moment for musicians. A lot of your practice time as a jazz musician is spent listening to and transcribing other jazz musicians’ work. It’s total and complete lunacy. I must have listened to Clifford Brown’s Solo on Pent Up House over a hundred times in three-second chunks until I could sing and play it from memory.
Seb’s line “Jazz is dying” hits me in my soul. I felt that, and spent many drunk nights after a show saying the same thing with the same inflection and hurt. I still remember my jaw dropping when Keith (John Legend) offered Sebastian $1,000 plus merchandising percentages! It’s such a jazz musician mindset to even consider turning it down, but we all have our price (and it’s well below $1000 a week). I once did a gig where I played solo trumpet at a wedding reception in North Carolina for $150 and all the smoked pig I could eat, they came to regret the second half of that offer when I showed up with a fork and knife.
The Film
I really loved this back in 2016 and ten years later, I appreciate it even more. It stands the test of time because most of this is on-location LA shooting, I mean they shut down the damn freeway to shoot the opening number and filmed the famous dance sequence in a thirty-minute time window. It simply looks good because almost everything you see is real with minimal CG to extend certain sets.
BROWNIE POINTS
So, if you don’t know, I’m the world’s biggest fan of Speed. It’s a film I’ve seen (no joke) at least thirty times. I love it so much, I watch it on my birthday every year. So, the opening number, “Another Day of Sun” was actually the same stretch of highway where they filmed the famous freeway-jumping-bus sequence from the BEST FILM EVER MADE. I said it. THE BEST.
Back to the Film
The music holds up so well and does some real heavy lifting throughout. It’s beautiful and carries a sense of nostalgia that I even felt in 2016. The main theme is so wistfull and effortlessly wrenches your heart open for the love and loss that unfolds in front of your eyes. Obviously Chazelle knows his film history and makes use of several old Hollywood techniques up front; layering film over top of each other, bright colors, even an ode to Busby Berkeley’s dance numbers.
What I love is how he throws all of this in at the top of the film and slowly pares it down as the story progresses and Seb’s and Mia’s relationship cools. He takes away the bright-colored dresses and quick edits to leave you with a dark apartment for Seb and Mia’s big fight, forcing you to focus on the raw emotions on display from two phenomenal actors.
Speaking of the actors, what can I say other than, they’re great. Gosling and Stone play so well off each other, you feel that instant attraction right with them. It’s intoxicating watching them at the Rialto watching Rebel Without a Cause, seeing Mia’s hand on her lap, watching Seb notice it and slide his hand on his lap, catching Mia notice that, and seeing the two hands nervously intertwine. It’s all sublime.
I have a question for anyone reading this: Do you still associate La La Land with that disasterous 2017 Oscar’s ceremony?
I have a bad feeling that’s what people first think of when this film is mentioned, maybe that’s just me.
BONUS (just for the freaks)
The famous duet on the Hollywood hills at twilight was copied by a favorite franchise of mine, Stalked by my Doctorin its fourth installment (which is kind of a Marvel-esque Lifetime film crossover event with Sleepwalking in Suburbia) titled Stalked by my Doctor: A Sleepwalker’s Nightmare. I would highly recommend the series to the “bad movie fans” it’s the ultimate so-bad-it’s-good series of films.
Anyways, they pretty much just steal the scene whole-cloth. Here’s the scene:
RATING: 5/5 GO OFF KING!
WHO SHOULD WATCH THIS FILM?
- Sad jazz boys
- Disenfranchised actors
- People stuck in traffic because Damien Chazelle wants to film an intricate dance sequence
