Original title: "La La Land": It was just that it was at a loss at the time
The movie "La La Land" is a film about love and dreams. It tells the story of the male and female protagonists who met and fell in love, chased their dreams together, and then fell in love with each other. A love story where dreams diverge and regret separates. Since its international premiere in 2016, it has gained high reputation and box office, won several international film awards, and created a phenomenon-level sensation. The film was once again screened in mainland theaters a few days ago, winning laughter and tears from the audience with its singing, dancing and twists of love.
Cinephilia’s carnival party
Cinephilia is a cultural phenomenon and a spirit. It is not only affected by the economic, political, cultural and other realistic factors of the era, but also rooted in the dream-making mechanism of the silver dream of movies. It is a kind of dream inspired by the film art as Susan Sontag said. Special love stems from obsession caused by devotion and love for movies. Damien Charreze, the director and screenwriter of "La La Land", is undoubtedly in the ranks of cinephiles. He is well versed in the genre changes and style performances in film history, and finally presented a carnival party that belongs to cinephiles. .
Just like the bathroom meeting line in La La Land, when else do you get the chance to see all the Hollywood clichés in one room? , "La La Land" pays high concentration to the classic film scenes in film history. It not only pays homage to many masterpieces of the Golden Age of Hollywood, such as "Come Along" (1937), "Broadway Show" (1940), "Casablanca" (1942), "An American in Paris" (1951), "Singin' in the Rain" " (1952), "Betrayal without a Cause" (1955), "Sweetheart" (1957) and other Hollywood classic films, also recalling "The Red Balloon" (1956), "Eight and a Half" (1963), "Ser" European films such as "The Umbrella of the Castle" (1965) and "Liu Meihua Jiao" (1967). In the film, the image of Sebastian (played by Ryan Gosling) and Mia (played by Emma Stone) as a couple is also deeply lingering in the minds of the audience, becoming the first couple after Rick (played by Ingrid Bergman) in "Casablanca" (played by Humphrey Bogart) and Ilsa (played by Humphrey Bogart), another classic screen couple image. The BE aesthetics of the film (i.e. Bad Ending, which refers to the regretful and imperfect ending) made the audience feel melancholy, which was just at a loss at the time. It also inspired more room for interpretation of "La La Land" and was praised by the audience. Reminiscent of the movie again and again.
Susan Sontag believes that cinephilia is conquered by the real presence of film images. This presence is not only an embodied presence, but can also be understood as an image presentation of real scenes. Just like the popular City Walk, "La La Land" can also be regarded as a City Walk about Los Angeles. The love story of Mia and Sebastian happened in countless corners of Los Angeles, such as the Rose Tower in Long Beach where Mia rented, the Griffith Observatory where they danced to their heart's content, the Colorado Street Bridge where they walked together, and Watts who went on a date together. Tower and Grand Central Market, the Lighthouse Cafe where we talked about dreams, the Rialto Theater where we watched "Rebel Without a Cause", the Hermosa Beach Pier where we sang "City of Star", and the two danced together at Casey's Corner, Scenes such as Warner Bros. Studios where Mia's coffee shop is located, and even Griffith Park where the two said goodbye, represent the urban scenery and cultural landscape of Los Angeles. Sebastian and Mia went from happy enemies to sweet lovers, then drifted apart and parted ways, and finally reunited after a long separation and smiled together. All kinds of beauty and brokenness, joy and heartbreak all unfolded around a city, and then Once again transformed into a cinephilic carnival party.
Love and dreams, you can’t have both?
The English title of "La La Land" is La La Land, which can be seen as an American slang term, which means a dream-like state of bliss away from cruel reality, corresponding to the dreamland Los Angeles and Hollywood in the film. Whether it is the fearless pursuit of dreams by the male and female protagonists or the dreamy presentation of beautiful love, they all point to the dream-making mechanism of the movie itself, and the small screen of the movie becomes a dream place.
"La La Land" can be called old-fashioned from the character setting to the drama structure.The male protagonist Sebastian is a down-and-out pianist who dreams of owning his own classical jazz club, while the female protagonist Mia comes to Los Angeles with a dream of being an actress, gives up her legal career and becomes a working girl in a cafe; The bridge section is even more vulgar. But why can "La La Land" earn nearly $500 million in global box office revenue with an investment of $30 million, and win dozens of awards?
If romance films or musicals are the genre symbols of "La La Land", then the theme of this film is always based on dreams. Throughout the film, it is not difficult to find that the highlight moments of the two people always revolve around the pursuit of dreams. Whether it’s Sebastian’s energy when talking about classical jazz at the Lighthouse Café, or Mia’s touching story of her aunt stepping into the icy Seine during her audition, or the two of them playing and singing “City of Stars” affectionately together. , all narrating their respective dream-chasing journeys. Their dreams seem like distant daydreams, and the two are like fools who fall and get back up again and again, but it's mutual understanding that makes them so in tune with each other. In the hallucinogenic dream-making movie machine, why not be a stubborn fool with daydreams?
But it is precisely because they know each other so well that they know how to hurt each other and burst the bubble of dreams. Due to the pressure of livelihood and repeated failures in pursuing their dreams, the glimpse of a leaking ceiling became the last straw to overwhelm their dreams, and also became the beginning of a rift in their love. Sebastian chose to compromise with reality for the so-called love, and in the end the two sadly lost their love in several quarrels.
Accompanied by the classic track "Mia & Sebastian's Theme" dedicated to the two, the dreamy revolving door performance at the end seems to temporarily isolate regrets and lead the two's story to another dimension. When the song ends, it's like waking up from a dream, leaving only the melancholy that was lost at that time. The spotlight of the jazz club illuminates Sebastian, who is pursuing his dream, and returns to those short but dreamy good years. That lock of bangs hanging down represents the uninhibited and sexy nature of being passionate about dreams, and will only appear in the selfless moment when Sebastian and Mia meet and reunite. The two of them looked at each other and smiled at the end, looking at each other silently but full of tacit understanding. They finally realized that love is the dream of mutual fulfillment.
"La La Land" is not so much a love musical as it is the recollection and condensation of the golden age of Hollywood and the great films in film history. A large number of movie scenes have been reproduced, representing a memory of the past. and disappear. This is a kind of nostalgia that can be recalled, and it is also a reliving of an old dream that was lost at the time. It's true that "La La Land" has many flaws, such as hidden scenes, Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone's less than proficient dancing, etc., but perhaps no other movie can replicate the achievements of this movie again. To borrow a classic line from the movie "Casablanca", we will always have Paris, and we will always have the city of stars that shines only for us. (Author: Ma En Title Page)
