La La Land
Dave G

Review by Dave G Patron

La La Land 2016

★★★★★

Rewatched Aug 14, 2023

Review 1: boxd.it/2GzhDD
Review 2: boxd.it/3z9Nfh
Review 3: boxd.it/3VTcbn
Review 4: boxd.it/4nPhgh

I feel pretty content calling this a full fledged masterpiece at this point, and Chazelle's best film as well. It's just flawless. It's able to balance being a musical with a story that has a strong emotional core that only grows throughout the film that culminates in a frankly phenomenal ending that destroys me every single time.

If you don't like musicals, or you want to dunk on Ryan Gosling being the white savior of jazz, I can understand not being a huge fan of it. Outside of that though I find this to be basically flawless. The storytelling elements are strong, the way it pays homage to so many great films that came before it is equally strong. It wears it's love and appreciation for that era of filmmaking on it's sleeve.

Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling are both beyond perfect. Their chemistry is just next level, and that helps so much given the fact that this is a musical. There are scenes of dialogue that are replaced with musical numbers, which I get is part of being a musical, but if the chemistry wasn't there we would lose so much of the relationship between the two. The chemistry is there though for the dialogue, the singing, and the dancing. It allows us to really feel their relationship grow and transform in a way that still works well, even if there isn't as many traditional scenes showcasing it.

The music is absurdly good. Justin Hurwitz is insanely talented and everything he gives us works great here. City of Stars is just an all timer. La La Land itself is also an all timer. If anyone needs me I'll just be off crying the rest of the day now.

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