FILM ROLL: LA LA LAND

City of stars, are you shinning just for me…or a dream that I cannot make true – the lovely words from the main ballad, City of Stars. Well, let me tell you, my cinema dreams did just come true. Aside from the absolutely lovely film score by Justin Hurwitz, the cinematography is truly spectacular. This mesmerizing tale of two lovers in Los Angeles completely held me in a trance, reviving my genuine love for this city I now call home and understanding about the undeniable heartbreak in the pursuit of anything worth while in life. La La Land, A story about so many things, romance and passion, not just between two people, but in the desire for something so hard and so important. The director, Damien Chapelle, who also directed one of my favorite movies Whiplash, delivers another beautiful, yet incredibly real look at the triumphs, trials and tribulations of pursuing something oh so extraordinary, it may not even be possible. I believe it is something we can all relate to, no matter if our passions lie in tap dancing or rocket science, it’s the drive we all want and sometimes only a few brave ones really chase after.

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Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling once again deliver a strong on screen chemistry with such depth and fascination. They must have a substantial friendship after all these years and now three roles as a couple. They truly captured that magic that I honestly think only young artists can embody. It’s the kind of vulnerability that comes from only the most authentic place of truly giving it all you got. The feeling of optimism was as equally portrayed as their own self-doubt for themselves and of each other.

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The film really hit the nail on the head for me about what Los Angeles itself has to offer. The allure of parties around blue pools, the perfectly pink sunsets, the most beautiful bluffs in the landscape of mountains and the ocean; it’s practically too good to be true that it can sometimes seem empty, unfulfilling or unobtainable. Los Angeles attracts some of the brightest, most talented people from all over the world, here to filter though some of the most narrow and surreal tunnels to success so fickly designed they almost don’t appear to really exist. And Los Angeles itself has been defined that way, almost too beautiful to live up to its expectation, and that’s something which I often see so clearly. But it’s also the land of opportunity for so many, the ones who perhaps are at worst daringly optimistic and at best dreamers.