Damien Chazelle strikes again with another award-winning film. La la land was recently released in theatres and quickly became a hit just like his later film Whiplash. This movie also revolves around the world of jazz in an even more theatrical way than whiplash did. Personally I am not a huge fan of musicals but I still had to see this one because of the director. Whiplash has been a favorite of mine so La La Land had very high expectations from me, which were met. I was expecting a classic love story, which is not really my forte, but was blown away but the complexity of it all.
The opening to the film is shot on a freeway. An actual freeway, not a hollywood set, that was shut down for the film. Chazelle mentions this in the article saying how surreal it was to step out onto a freeway. This opening just gives way to the big performances throughout the entirety of the film. The whole film is bright and loud which is far different from the movie whiplash. Whiplash used a dark tone while La La Land used primary colors and sunlight. Although the lighting is vastly different the director keeps some consistent shots and actors within the two film.
JK Simmons makes another appearance in a Chazelle film playing almost the same character as he did in Whiplash. He is still cold and harsh and not quite as light and happy as the rest of the film. This was a nice contrast to see and although the colors remain bright there are many hard times in this movie. This seems to be flipped from how whiplash was shot. Damien Chazelle uses some of the shot in La La Land that he had used in Whiplash. Shot that were repeating were over head shots. These shots and actors that stay prove that is is a film by Damien Chazelle. However by using such a different scheme of colors between these two films Chazelle shows that he is capable of a lot more than dark and gloomy.
URL: http://collider.com/la-la-land-damien-chazelle-interview/#john-legend