By BEN O’CONNOR
I am a victim. A victim of a curse; a curse set upon me by the evil witch that is Damien Chazelle. It was near the end of 2016 that I caught wind of the romantic musical-movie combination that is La La Land. The strong opening scene I saw on YouTube, the tap-dancing under the stars scene that I saw on YouTube, and the “convincing Emma Stone’s character to go to a party” scene I saw onYouTube. If you haven’t figured it out, I have never seen the movie. Not once!
This might have you questioning how I am going to pull off writing an entire article. I am happy to say that you are not alone. But! I do have a secret weapon. And that is the curse that has plagued me for SEVEN LONG YEARS, and I don’t know how to free myself from it. Send like an exorcist, or maybe a magic man, because this curse is horrible. The curse has shackled me to have various songs from the hit sing and dance film La La Land as incessant earworms since December 2016. It is both lovely and, quite frankly, hell.
The songs of jazz menagerie La La Land have this eloquence and catchiness to them that you just gotta love. The opening of hunk of junk La La Land is the energetic, curiosity-creating “Another Day of Sun,” which shares vague stories of songs and storytelling of aspiring actors, and the life they persistently pursue. The following song from hit shmingle dingle La La Land, “Someone in the Crowd,” shares a very similar melody to “Another Day of Sun,” but in addition, houses the wondrous harmonies of a smaller group of singers.
The instrumentals of this song (and MANY others) create such substance that tells the story of hope and intention for Emma Stone’s character to “give it a go!” bringing you up and then down when she starts singing and then pulls a whole switcheroo f*ck you and says she going to the party! Get boofed. Before long, we are serenaded with the voice of Ken – Ryan Gosling. This dude starts off “A Lovely Night” with a little whisper of secret time and quickly escalates into a more jazzy vibe (that is his entire character). Mia, Emma’s character, takes it up a half step or so, regaining control of the situation. Then Ryan Gosling takes control of the romance and shares with us the calm whistling/piano tune of “City of Stars”, which is one of the most beautiful songs I have ever heard, ever.
I stopped there not for lack of gushing ability but because I have never watched the epitome of the netherworld, La La Land. But not for lack of trying! When I found out it came out on Netflix (the single streaming service I have access to) 2 years ago, I was elated. I could finally watch this work of absolute ear sex that I had been waiting a long time to enjoy! So, I didn’t. Yeah, I didn’t watch it. Until recently, when I decided I should watch it with my partner. And we tried! We are both theater/band/orchestra kids, so dancy dancy, tappy tappy singy music storytime should have been right up our alley. Only 45 minutes in, though, we got absurdly bored and went to eat cereal. I have no idea how the hit sensation in the US, La La Land, goes, or ends. Which, I’ve heard, is the best part. Whether that means it’s the ending that pulls it all together to make it visually worth it or if it’s that the sweet release of the credits is the only reason people enjoy the movie is out of my realm of knowledge. And I crave knowledge. I must know. So I’m going go watch the full house deep clean machine La La Land and get back to you with some thoughts. Is it really just the music that is the height of cinema soundtracks? Is there actual substance to the screen? Did it really deserve ALL of those rewards? Will I be released from my eternal turmoil of ceaseless singing to songs I don’t know the context to? I guess we’ll find out… next time on Disney Channel.
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