Lovers of musicals, romantic Perthians, this one has your name written all over it. The Luna Outdoor in Leederville is screening the movie LA LA LAND on New Year’s Eve. (Suss out Sian’s Accessreel review.)
Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone channel old-school Hollywood glamour in this bright and playful romantic musical from director Damien Chazelle (WHIPLASH). This bitter-sweet love letter to the city of Los Angeles, the golden era of Hollywood musicals and the visual flair of French maestro Jacques Demy, is beyond glorious. It’s a perfect confection with medicinal properties.
In a year dominated by division, distrust, and disappointment, it might seem strange to anoint a swooning -musical as the top film of 2016. But as the escapist Busby Berkeley fantasias of the Great Depression proved, sometimes the best medicine can only be found in a darkened movie theater.
Damien Chazelle’s thrillingly ambitious, unapologetically romantic La La Land is a movie that’s out of time and arrives at just the right time. It’s a balm for our weary national soul. Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone, re-teaming from 2011’s Crazy, Stupid, Love, play struggling young artists in modern-day Los Angeles whose dreams seem out of reach. At least until they find each other in, of all places, a traffic jam on the 105 that erupts into a show- stopping frenzy of singing and dancing. The next 120 minutes are just as intoxicating—an irresistible cocktail of heart-swelling joy and heartrending sadness as we follow the ups and downs of their relationship.
Nostalgic without seeming old-fashioned, La La Land is pure movie magic. It’s a testament to the timeless, transporting power of cinema.Chazelle’s modern reinvention of musical cinema promises to be a major player in the annual awards season.
Advance Screenings: Special New Year’s Eve Celebration at Luna Outdoor from 7.00pm. Also screening Christmas Eve, Sat Dec 24, Sun Jan 1, and Tue Jan 3 and Wed Jan 4 plus Wed Feb 1. Further details here.
