Ryan Gosling, Emma Stone Head to ‘La La Land’ for a Musical Twist on Boy Meets Girl

Rudy Cecera

In “La La Land,” director Damien Chazelle brings the musical comedy format into the present, telling a Tinseltown love story with song and dance. Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling play Mia and Sebastian, struggling artists who meet cute – repeatedly – and then follow fate and fall in love.

Stone captures the wide-eyed innocence of a wannabe actress serving coffee until she makes it. As the film progresses, so does Mia’s ability and confidence. She travels from audition to audition until she transforms. Gosling plays a passionate jazz pianist who wants his own club to promote the music he loves. His lounge gigs don’t last long because he can’t play for hire, only for love of music. He wanders across Los Angeles bemoaning the lack of love for jazz.       

Other cast members include Rosemarie DeWitt as Gosling’s sister and musician John Legend, who adds authenticity to the musical dimension. There’s also a cameo by J.K. Simmons, who won an Oscar for Chazelle’s breakout film “Whiplash.” But the star character is LA itself, the city of energy that drives the action, including the bouncy opening number staged in traffic. The songs are upbeat in an energetic foot-tapping style. There are also a few slower numbers put in just the right places that help us catch our breath while blending light moments with romance.

Chazelle brings back the musical at the same time as he revives the Cinemascope format, which dates from the days of “Rebel Without a Cause,” – another film shot against the backdrop of a Los Angeles that was real and mythical at the same time. The film even includes a set piece the Griffith Observatory, a key location in the James Dean movie. Is the love story an echo of “Rebel,” with Sebastian as the rebel and Mia as modern-day good girl/bad girl Natalie Wood? Or is it an echo of Bogart and Bergman in “Casablanca?”  Mia’s studio lot coffee shop is opposite the set from that classic.

Yet another obvious film reference is Jacques Demy’s “Umbrellas of Cherbourg,” the French musical starring Catherine Deneuve who sells the title objects in the title city, and falls in love with an auto mechanic as he is sent off to war. Just as “Cherbourg” brought a musical love story to audiences who weren’t used to seeing it set amid gritty realism, “La La Land” sets a musical love story in a modern LA for audiences largely unaccustomed to the style.

The music is strong, the choreography is remarkable and the cinematography is noteworthy. Chazelle’s quick editing and pace, following the leads during a year keeps a steady pace, with a fair music-to-dialogue ratio and adds a non-traditional ending that combines believability and fantasy in a sweet wrap-around.

“La La Land” is a loving look at Los Angeles in a beloved format that tells a tried-and-true boy-meets-girl love story. Is love, sweet love, what the world needs now? In any case, this movie is sure to be one of the most talked-about films of the year.         

“La La Land” opens nationwide on Dec. 8.