Fans of song, dance and Hollywood’s Golden Age are sure to fall in love with ‘La La Land’. Taking inspiration from classics such as ‘Casablanca’ and ‘Rebel Without A Cause’, this film is a modern-day celebration of dreams. Exploring the treacherous worlds of acting and love, Damien Chazelle’s latest spectacle is one you can’t afford to miss.
Despite criticism for simply ‘following a cliché’, the tale of two young hopefuls in Hollywood always finds a way to melt even the toughest person’s heart. The story follows Mia – a young actress striving to find her big break – and Sebastian – a slightly off-piste musician struggling to save jazz. Emma Stone’s superbly in-depth exploration of her character wins my vote while she pours her heart into every note of her audition song: ‘The Fools Who Dream’. If there’s one reason to see this movie, it’s the creative take on a classic love story.
As a musical, La La Land packs a punch with its lively opening number that is sure to be stuck in your head after just thinking about it. The singing, the dancing on cars and the incredible scale of the numbers draws heavy inspiration from classic musicals. Lyricist-composer, Justin Hurwitz certainly deserves recognition for the soulful piano melodies and lively jazz routines this film brings. The moving soundtrack is many peoples’ favourite element of La La Land as it explores a genre of music we rarely get to hear as teenagers.
After exploring just a few of the reasons to see this tremendous film, I encourage you to put on your dancing shoes for an unforgettable trip to the cinema. La La Land is certainly a five-star fim in my view and it is definitely worth making a song and dance about.
Written by Grace Arnott, Year 11
Image courtesy of Kasper Bertelsen @unsplash.com
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