La La Land（爱乐之城）, written and directed by Damien Chazelle, starred by Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone, is commonly considered the best movie in 2017 released in China so far by most Chinese people. It tells a story that a man and a woman fell in love because of inspiration and interest but finally broke apart due to different personal careers. After my searching for critics and comments on it comprehensively, it can been seen that the love story told in La La Land is developed based on reality, whose ending can be seen to be both romantic and tragic. La La Land has received countless critical acclaim and was universally regarded as one of the best films of 2016 released in America. It is the winner of seven Golden Globe Awards and two of the main Oscar Awards and so on.

    The movie is believed to have two story lines: one is love line, and the other is dream line in reality. Based on general comments and famous critics, I hold the view that La La Land is a more than a successful movie which combines beautiful and passionate dances and songs throughout the whole movie to tell the purest love, and virtually more focused on the two leading roles’ growing trail to tell about dream and reality. 

    This paper is a synthesis on what La La Land is trying to express and tell its audience, as well as what spirits and meanings can be concluded from it. The paper follows the order of analyzing two aspects of the movie and analyzing the shooting techniques in which the director’s intention is implied, while my own opinions that the movie mainly tells a story about dream and reality on the basis of a love story are interspersed with the whole passage.

    In the love line, when MIA met the depressed Sebastian, who was at that time being criticized by the boss due to his arbitrary playing of his own songs in the bar, she fell in love with him immediately. They soon met again in a party where MIA was brought by her companions to cheer for her audition. On the mountain where the whole Los Angeles’ beautiful night scenery can be totally viewed, they shared a lovely dance and hence expressed love to each other. It is a common love story till now. The two leading roles started their love out of the similar interest and dreaming attribute. However, a successful story can never be so ordinary. They gradually had their troubles due to different short-term needs and demands as well as long-term dream.

    In the dream line, MIA and Sebastian are lovers and both artists who encourage each other to chase their dreams. When MIA followed Sebastian’s advice to focus her attention to create her own drama and tried to have it played on stage, Sebastian turned out to sign a profitable contract with a band which sold a lot but went far from his initial dream. The decision Sebastian made about his career really irritated MIA, not to mention the abortive show she played the other day. It therefore throws the first question to us, “What leads to the argument between the couple?”. Is their love not substantial enough or the reality too cruel? I believe that it is their separate acknowledgement of chasing dream that leads to the spiritual departure.

    My point is that the movie is building its dream line on the love line, which means that love doesn’t count so much as dream does in this movie. It seems that they are just meeting with a beautiful love during their persuit of dream. MIA worked as a barista at Warner Bros.'s studio, and often aliced classes to go from auditions to auditions. If she was accepted, even a minor character would make her really happy. Sebastian was a jazz pianist, who liked to wear silk tie, had an almost obsessive pursuit of art. He wanted to pitch a club, but his obsession with music was more suitable for museums, and almost no one would be willing to pay for it. They were both in their dilemma of life, so when MIA saw the depressed but still brave Sebastian, she fell in love with him immediately. I think their love origins from the needy embracement of two frustrated people. It has been pointed out by in Mia and Sebastian’s special characteristics that they are both independent-minded, stubborn strivers whose share the similar idealism about their art, which seems to be more or less in direct conflict with their desired method to succeed at it. And after a few more rocky encounters—one of which ends in a tentative soft-shoe à deux, as if their feet know what’s happening before their hearts do—they begin to fall in love.

    At the end of the film, after five years’ departure, MIA and Sebastian unexpectedly met each other in the bar he opened. Sebastian played the piano, and with notes, the director launched a new hypothesis to us. Their stories are redeveloping fast like the films, which is full of flowers and smiles. The last dance scene is decorated with the most gorgeous bright colors and dances throughout the whole movie. The most beautiful light exactly shines into the helpless reality and simply leaves nothing to speak.

     How good is the film? Imagine such a scene: in one evening after twenty years, when you drive your car on the way home, the speaker suddenly began to put the film’s melody. The instant you hear the first note, all your emotions start welling up, just like at that night of twenty years ago the first time you heard them. In my opinion, the movie wants to pass on to its audiences that when you chase your dream, you may be faced with many obstacles, in which love is included. But you don’t have to feel regret about the love, it is still pure and beautiful, deserved to be valued.