La La Land – Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling. Photo courtesy of Summit Entertainment/eOne
La La Land is a strange beast – influenced equally by Hollywood musicals like Singing in the Rain (to which there is a fun reference) and Jacques Demy’s The Umbrellas of Cherbourg – that is something more than mere colorful fun.
Damien Chazelle’s second film is the story of two struggling artists – jazz pianist Sebastian (Ryan Gosling) and wannabe actor Mia (Emma Stone) – who don’t exactly meet cute, then do before going on to have a very real relationship (cleverly camouflaged as piece of fluff musical).
When Damien Chazelle was asked how he planned to follow up his brilliant debut feature, whiplash, he said he’d like to do a musical.
He wasn’t lying.
Check out the trailer Chazelle’s second feature, La La Land, starring Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone, after the break. It’s incredibly charming. La La Land opens on December 16th.
Whiplash, my favorite movie of 2014, is now available on DVD.
It’s a tale of the lengths someone will got to to be great, and the lengths someone will go to to push someone to be great. Whiplash won three Oscars® this year – including Best Supporting Actor for J.K. Simmons for the role of Mr. Fletcher, the abusive instructor/conductor of the top-rated music school’s jazz band.
Although one of the joys of covering a film festival is the cool movies that you might never otherwise see, there are always a few that you have to see even when you know they will being getting some kind of mainstream release. Whiplash – which won both the Jury and Audience prizes at this year’s Sundance Festival, is one of those. And it is just as good as those awards would suggest it is.
