Revisiting "La La Land," Do You Still Remember the Person You Watched the Movie With?

Eight years have passed. Do you still remember the romantic tap dance under the magnificent blue-purple night sky of Los Angeles? Do you still remember the love flowing in the piano melody of "City of Stars"? Do you still remember the story about love and dreams?

Directed by Damien Chazelle starring Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone, the box office hit and multiple Oscar-winning musical "La La Land" was released in the United States in 2016, winning six Oscars, including Best Director and Best Actress, five British Academy Film Awards, as well as top awards such as the DGA Director's Guild Award and the PGA Producer's Guild Award. This film also grossed 472 million in global box office. It is worth mentioning that this year marks the 8th anniversary of the release of "La La Land," which has a special meaning for some fans, as eight years symbolizes a lifetime together.

The keyword to revisit "La La Land" is "nostalgia."

Do you remember the intense controversy "La La Land" caused after its release eight years ago? The Oscars ceremony blunder, the massive box office success, and the media's concentrated coverage all pushed this film to the forefront, sparking viewer discussions about whether "La La Land" was overrated. Some critics questioned the simplicity of the plot. In contrast, others believed that the film's portrayal of a black jazz musician compromising with the public and commercialism concealed a white male-centric stance.

Now, these disputes have all subsided, and we can return to the film more calmly, re-experiencing and savoring it. Even though it is already 2024, fans' expectations of revisiting this film are still high, and it has even sparked a "La La Land nostalgia wave."

Many netizens have expressed that hearing the familiar melody immediately brings them back to many memorable moments. As one netizen wrote: "How good is this movie? Imagine this scene: twenty years later, on an evening, you are driving (or being driven) on your way home, suddenly the speakers start playing the melody from this movie, and the moment you hear the first note, all the emotions surge up, just like that night twenty years ago when you heard them for the first time."

Revisiting this film, you will still feel teary-eyed, and one keyword that cannot be avoided is "nostalgia." The tone of "La La Land" itself is nostalgic: director Damien Chazelle used the CinemaScope to try to recreate the image quality of the classic Hollywood era; tap dance, jazz music, black and white old movies, and other retro elements are all filled with nostalgic emotions; the film pays tribute to many classic Hollywood musicals such as "The Umbrellas of Cherbourg," "Singin' in the Rain," "An American in Paris," etc., which is also the director's nostalgia for the golden age of musicals; although this film is not like "Singin' in the Rain" and other musicals that use musical scenes as rehearsals or stage performances, you can still see some shadows of "plays within plays," in Sebastian's several piano performance scenes, except for the top light on the stage, the light around suddenly disappears, and the protagonist seems to be performing on the stage, Mia's audition scenes also have similar expressions. These appropriate nostalgic atmospheres resonate with the film's sentimental love and dream BE ending and the reflective mood of the audience re-watching this film eight years later, forming a particular resonance.

Furthermore, the film is not only about love but also about dreams. In the movie, the director once used parallel montages to show the process of the male and female protagonists pursuing career development respectively, which seems to tell the truth: Although there are occasional partners on the road of pursuing dreams, ultimately, one has to go it alone. The story of the "lonely dreamer" also quickly strikes a chord with young audiences, and looking back at oneself eight years later, have the dreams come true? Are the people who once accompanied you still by your side?

"La La Land" is a contemporary variation of the classic Hollywood musical; on the one hand, it does build a utopia. Sebastian and Mia have realized their dreams and succeeded in the mainstream American dream narrative. Still, on the other hand, it subverts the expectation of the traditional Hollywood happy ending. In classical Hollywood musicals, many irreconcilable conflicts and contradictions will miraculously disappear, such as the class barriers between the male and female protagonists being wholly gone after a perfect musical performance, and they will live happily together.

But in this film, the love between Sebastian and Mia ends in a breakup. However, "La La Land" achieves a "happy ending" on the fantasy level; in the bar of Seb's, the male protagonist plays a variation of the piano piece, and the music accompanies them back to the past and getting married and having children. This montage realizes the happiness in the imagination of "parallel time and space," soothing the audience's hearts in another way. Although the deeply loved people eventually go their separate ways, the two have had a beautiful past, enough to fulfill each other and move forward. The sad ending also contains the hope of life's journey; perhaps it is also why many audiences gain strength from this film.

The two lead actors formed a deep friendship on set; how have they developed in the past eight years?

"La La Land" is derived from the abbreviation of "Los Angeles", which means "dreamland". In the text, the professional attributes of the actors in the film who pursue dreams in Hollywood directly refer to the dream-making mechanism of movies and Hollywood itself. Outside the text, the two lead actors started acting careers because of this film. Emma Stone has won twelve awards, including the Best Actress at the 89th Academy Awards. In comparison, Ryan Gosling has bagged Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy at the 74th Golden Globe Awards and has been nominated for nine other awards.

Emma Stone is well known for her roles in "Superbad," "The House Bunny," "Zombieland," "Easy A," and "Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)." She also played Peter Parker's lover in "The Amazing Spider-Man" and the 2014 sequel. Ryan Gosling entered the mainstream audience's view with the 2004 film "The Notebook," and then participated in films such as "Half Nelson," "Crazy, Stupid, Love," "Drive," "The Place Beyond the Pines," and "Lost River," and was nominated for the Oscar for Best Actor and the Golden Globe for Best Actor.

"La La Land" is the third collaboration between Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling, and they previously worked together on "Crazy, Stupid, Love" and "Gangster Squad." The two screen lovers formed a deep friendship on set. Emma Stone called Ryan Gosling "dear friend" and said, "I can't even imagine what my life would be like without Ryan." In an interview at the 45th Telluride Film Festival, she said, "He is special and talented, but also a very cooperative person because he is very good at collaborating. He taught me a lot." This screen couple collaborated again in 2019, voicing for the HBO comedy special "My Favorite Shapes by Julio Torres."

In the eight years since the release of "La La Land," Emma Stone has participated in films such as "Battle of the Sexes," "The Favourite," "Maniac," "Poor Things," "The Curse," "Eddington," etc. In the biographical film "Battle of the Sexes," Emma Stone played tennis legend Billie Jean King. The film focused on the cross-gender match between two top tennis players, telling the story of Billie Jean King fighting for women's rights and exposing the inequality between male and female athletes in the tennis world. And Emma Stone and Steve Carell were nominated for Golden Globe Awards for this film.

In 2018, "The Favourite" brought Stone 15 honors; in 2019, Emma Stone starred in the TV series "Maniac," adapted from the Norwegian 2014 play of the same name. Jonah Hill and she played two finalists selected for drug trials. In 2023, her new film, "Poor Things," won the Golden Lion Award at the 80th Venice Film Festival.

In these eight years, Ryan Gosling has also starred in "Blade Runner 2049", as well as "First Man," a film co-produced with "La La Land" director Damien Chazelle.

Ryan Gosling's latest film is The Pink Storm "Barbie," which swept the world this summer, and in 2022, the film's release, the public mocked the first look of his live-action "Ken." The open cowboy jacket reveals the dark abdominal muscles, the KEN brand underwear, and the crooked smile in the pink background, which makes the audience silent. However, since the release of this film, it has caused wave after wave of noise on the Internet because of its provocative feminist narrative perspective and the direct and humorous deconstruction and satire of patriarchy. It has grossed 1.4 billion US dollars at the global box office, winning the international box office champion of the year. Ken is on the edge of the Barbie paradise, only to gain self-worth through Barbie's attention, an image of otherization and objectification. Still, it reflects the plight of women in real life.

Before taking on this role, Ryan Gosling was unsure if the "Ken" character was exemplary. In an interview on "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon," he recounted the moment that made him determined: "Two daughters were playing at home, and one day they found a 'Ken' doll lying face down in the mud, and there was a flattened lemon next to it." He thought it was a sign, so he took a picture of the discarded toy and sent it to director Greta Celeste Gerwig, saying in the text, "I'm ready to play the role of 'Ken' because his story also needs to be told." Ryan Gosling will also star in "The Fall Guy," "The Gray Man 2", and other films.

"La La Land" will be adapted into a Broadway musical.

Musicals were one of the most typical genres of Hollywood's golden age. Still, by the late 1960s, under the impact of the television industry and the influence of social and cultural changes, musicals gradually declined in film production. But musicals also sought change in adversity, constantly innovating in audiovisual language and narrative style. Entering the 21st century, musicals such as "Moulin Rouge!", "Chicago," "The Phantom of the Opera," and "Dreamgirls" were produced and released, but the profits were not as good as before. In 2004, "Rent" and "The Phantom of the Opera," the two longest-running musicals in Broadway history, were adapted into films, but the box office was unsatisfactory. In 2007, "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street," directed by Tim Burton and starring Johnny Depp, was also disappointed at the box office. However, in 2016, "La La Land," as an original musical not adapted from a musical, seemed to signal the return of musicals with its box office achievements.

In 2017, "The Greatest Showman" was released with a global box office of 440 million US dollars, proving that musicals still have market vitality. Also, in the same year, the live-action "Beauty and the Beast" grossed 1.305 billion US dollars globally, and musicals seemed to be returning. In September 2021, Steven Spielberg's "West Side Story" remake was released. The film's viewership performance on Netflix was impressive, but the box office performance was mediocre.

Although the future development trend of musicals still needs time to verify, the increasing acceptance of musicals now may be a good time to revisit "La La Land." It is common for musicals to be adapted into musicals and vice versa. According to Deadline's report in February this year, "La La Land" is being developed into a Broadway musical.

Producer Marc Platt, who has won Emmy Awards and Tony Awards, said that "La La Land" will turn from Hollywood to Broadway, "I am excited to reunite with Lionsgate and the talented team behind 'La La Land' to adapt this film into a Broadway stage, which is the next exciting chapter in the development of 'La La Land.'" "We have assembled a world-class team to create a musical that will excite the millions of fans of the movie and introduce the show to a whole new audience."

The musical version of "La La Land" will be composed by composer Justin Hurwitz, who won an Oscar for his work on this film. Tony Award-winning composers Benj Pasek and Justin Paul will also assist in the music production of the show, and Tony Award-winning director Bartlett Sher will direct the show.

I hope everyone can be like Sebastian and Mia in the "parallel time and space" with their loved ones by their side, and all their dreams can come true.