La La Land

Beautiful movie about the importance of pursuing your dreams, even if it means sacrificing things you love. Everything is absolutely amazing, the cinematography, the score, the writing, the songs, the acting, etc. My only problem with this movie is that I think Mia and Sebastian are kind of B tier characters, but that’s about it. Most people who don’t like this movie seem to not like it because it feels like an over the top musical, but that’s the point. The musical sequences in this movie are meant to represent people’s dreams. Within these musical sequences everything seems to be perfect, only to go back to the chaotic and messy real world. The contrast between the cheesy, Roger/Hammerstein-esque musical world and the bleak depressing real world represents dreams vs reality. This movie is genius and I could recommend it to anyone.

I got the honor of watching this film with a live orchestra and jazz band playing the score in real time. It is a fun, colorful masterpiece that already feels like a classic even though it only came out in 2016. My favorite thing about this movie is the way it leaves in intentional "mistakes" to make the characters more human. The dialogue is sometimes intentionally awkward, but somehow never cringey. The score is beautiful and the musical numbers smooth. Ryan Gosling is literally me.