Colors of “La la Land”

Today I’m not going to talk about Science Fiction but a Musical Comedy: “LA la Land”.

I do not look at it very often, but I really like Musicals. I am not able to hear the songs, so I must surely miss some of the interest, but in general there is dancing and as a dancer (at my modest level) I am not indifferent to it. The opportunities to see dance are far too rare in pop culture.

“La la Land” is Damien Chazelle’s second film, after “Whiplash” a film about Andrew, a 19-year-old boy who studies at the Manhattan Conservatory to become the greatest jazz drummer. (A real shonen scenario!) Who was for many of my friends from my movie club the best movie of 2014.

“La la Land” is the story of love between a rising actress Mia, played by Emma Stone ❤ and a jazz pianist named Sebastian, played by Ryan Gosling. The story is simple but not simplistic. I do not want to say too much not to spoil, but it is very touching and touches many things in a very clever way.

La Lande is a fantastic film full of levels, but I wanted to talk to you about how the film tells its story playing with the colors.

The film is divided into four parts, representing the four seasons. At the very beginning, in winter and in spring, the light is more saturated at the moment when Mia and Sebastian dream of their future while the calibration of the film becomes more and more gloomy as the fantasy is erased and that the characters advance both in their relationship and in their life plans.

We find that also with the costumes and sets:

In winters, Mia is in intense blue that represents a soft dreamy, calm side.

In spring she is dressed in yellow, which represents the joy of living. She is more in tune with herself and her desires.

Clever transition in the movie. At the end of the winter, She passes a casting, but she gives herself coffee over her white blouse. To hide the stain she wears a blue coat at the moment of passing it, and in the end, when she removes it, the blouse has a big yellow stain.

Sebastian, start the film with bland color, because it is at the bottom of the hole, then along the film, the color that will define it is the white color of his shirt, may be to represent the purity of his Jazz dream. But the white color is the combination of all the other colors (in light) can be to tell us that he has not yet decided to choose who he wants to be?

When he goes to his first date with Mia, he wears a beige suit reminiscent of yellow.

Then summer comes and the colors are not solid anymore or a little bit more pale. And Mia often changes color as if she were looking for herself.

Little by little, the colors become darker and darker, but from time to time present small touches of bright colors, as if to show that the dream is always accessible?

There are tons and tons of ways to interpret all this that I will let you look for yourself hoping that I gave you a little desire to see this movie.

This is the perfect film to analyze this kind of thing, it shows that in cinema there are plenty of ways to tell a story other than by showing or saying things explicitly. That every small detail can have a meaning. And that’s what makes all the specificity of cinema and all that wealth.