But we know where this is headed and Gosling & Stone have the chemistry to make us long for them to get together. Like any good musical, the two have a few false starts and playfully mock each other’s flaws in their first scenes. And after the chorus-like introduction to a city of dreamers, we meet two such sun-gazers: pianist Sebastian ( Ryan Gosling) and actress Mia ( Emma Stone). You can not only see the dance moves, but you can see the dancer’s entire body when he or she performs them. Here, and throughout the film, he works in long, unbroken takes. Instantly, Chazelle’s direction and the dance choreography feels different. traffic when the drivers decide to break into song called “Another Day of Sun”-a bit about how each day brings new hope for these young wannabe artists-jumping out of the cars and dancing on the freeway. Cars are stuck in the notoriously awful L.A. “La La Land” opens with a bit of a fake-out in that it’s a large ensemble number of a variety that we won’t really see again in the movie. Los Angeles is filled with dreamers, and sometimes it takes a partner to make your dream come true. This is a beautiful film about love and dreams, and how the two impact each other. In Chazelle’s vision, choreography matters and a simple piano refrain can have more power than a lyric. The modern movie musicals, so often based on Broadway shows, have focused heavily on songs that further plot. One of many remarkable things about Damien Chazelle’s “La La Land” is how much energy and time it devotes to movement and music, not just lyrics. We’ve had some musicals since the era of Rogers & Astaire, but few that have tried to recapture that sense of fluid, magical thinking in which characters communicate with their bodies as much, maybe even more, than they do with their voices.
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