La La Land

According to The Merriam-Webster Dictionary, the term La La Land means : a euphoric dreamlike mental state detached from the harsher realities of life. 

When I watched the trailer for La La Land at the cinema around December for the first time, I immediately fell in love with the Cinematography and the uniqueness. It felt different and I was super excited to finally watch it!

The Plot

The Story is based in Los Angeles. There is Mia, a aspiring actress, who has auditions after auditions without any success, chasing for her dream while working in a coffeeshop in warner brothers studios, admiring all the actresses with a smile on her face. 

And there is Sebastian, a passionate pianist with a great love for jazz music, fighting for what he loves.

Their very first meeting includes a car horn and a middle finger, the second one a heartbreaking piano piece and a rough jostle. The third one is the beginning of a beautiful connection between two passionate artists, two courageous dreamers, overwhelmed by the feeling of pettiness, failure - and sometimes - reality.  

The Music

I can not describe how much I love the Soundtrack of this film. I adore every song of it. 

The fools Who Dream and Mia & Sebastians Theme breaks my heart every time and made me tear up a lot. I was super impressed with Ryan Goslings piano skills (he actually learned to play the piano) and Emma Stones warm voice, fragile at the right moments. 

Listening to the Music, I get a very sentimental, nostalgic feeling and I find it remarkable how the film and the music is a perfect mix of an old fashioned Musical with modern aspects.

The Cinematography 

I think this might be the most important part which made me love this film. The editing, the scenery, the camera flow in rhythm of the music, the colors made this film a piece of art for me. I absolutely love is this one scene, showing Mia in her blue dress, walking all by her self next to a wall of a painted audience which watches her as she finds her way to Lipton's, following the beautiful piano music while the camera is slowly flowing next to her. 

And then of course there is the remarkable observatory scene.

The City

A lot of reviews and critics are calling La La Land a love letter to L.A. which I totally agree with. The "city of stars" is just magical portrayed. Apparently, there are more then 60 locations in L.A. used for this film, showing the city from it's best side.

For me, La La Land bring back all the memories I made when I traveled to L.A. in 2013, I could feel the incredible warmth of the California sun, the nice chill in the evenings, being in the Observatory, walking at the Hermosa beach pier and exploring on the warner brothers studio tour.

The Couple

Let's talk about Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling. Their chemistry in La La Land is just unreal, you really can tell that they know each other and respect each other from working together in two other films. I love the Characters they both portrayed, I can relate to both of them so much and I really, really loved how independent and strong Mia is, without all this princessy, head over heels in love,

super positiv smiling vibe you often get from modern Musicals.

"People love what other people are passionate about"

(La La Land)

All in all, I love La La Land! Although in my opinion, it is a little bit overhyped and therefore my expectations to a super high point, I wasn't disappointed at all and really enjoyed it. Would love to hear your guys opinions x