val’s review published on Letterboxd:
you know those film bros who try to gatekeep fincher films and say "you probably don't know this movie" or "you don't understand the ACTUAL meaning of it" but it is literally fight club??? well that's me with la la land. it has 6 oscars and 125 awards won but it feels like damien chazelle sat down and wrote it for me only, from beginning to end. in that scene where seb is rambling about jazz, looking like a passionate golden retriever and mia is just there, trying to absorb her surroundings, i am seb!!! but instead of talking about jazz, i talk about this film, and the people i talk to are just there trying to keep up with my rhythm because i say hundreds of words per minute when i talk about the things that i'm passionate about just like seb. i feel so conected to sebastian and mia, to their personalities, to their stories. i love how both of them are their own person. most romantic movies fail to have two main characters who can stand on their own, some writers just write the love story and forget about the characters. with them it doesn't feel like that at all, you could take off their romantic relationship and it doesn't feel like the magic of the movie faded away. they don't exist for each other, they both stand on their own and the love story is just a beautiful plus. they're not boring when they're not together, they're still complex individuals without one another and it feels like they're two real people. not even to mention emma stone and ryan gosling's absolutely breathtaking chemestry. this is the film that if i were an actress would like to starr in, the film that if i were a director would like to direct, the film that if i were a writer would like to have written. and i don't think i'm ever gonna love another piece of media more than i love this one. happy 6th anniversary la la land <3
