La La Land
Keaton Brower

Review by Keaton Brower

La La Land 2016

★★★★★

Watched Dec 27, 2016

I've gotten lazy about writing reviews lately. That ends now.

Damien Chazelle is a very bold, ambitious, and gutsy man. Having the first line of your script be a direct address sung straight to the camera? Writing more set pieces (and I mean that affectionately) into your film than I as an audience member can possibly count? Daring to dream and put cynicism aside in a year when all hope has, at times, felt lost?

I have been anticipating this film ever since it was announced and in the interim developed sky-high expectations. LA LA LAND surpassed them. I feel like I have been waiting for this movie my entire life. I laughed; I cried; my heart sang. I looked back; I wondered ahead. I felt human and so very, very alive. The sheer amount of choreography, music, camera shots, editing, design, and heavy-duty performances from the two leads is nothing short of a wonder. LA LA LAND is pure cinema, bewitching the heart and senses at every turn. Oh, how it builds until its very last frame!

I'll always wish I could go back and see this again for the very first time. But how lucky I am that I can enjoy this masterpiece again, and again, and again. Thank you, Chazelle. Thank you to everyone involved in creating this thing of sheer beauty. I will always have more joy in my heart because I saw this film.

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