JD:
La La Land, starring Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone, is a must-see if you are looking for a movie with color. This cinematography conveys all the emotion you want it to. The colors are vibrant, beautiful, and full of life just like the movie itself, making you feel as if you are not even watching a movie. The movie is similar to that of a musical, with a stellar soundtrack, but more movie-centered. It came out in 2016, and follows a young couple navigating life in Hollywood. Their chemistry is unmatched and leaves you wanting more, and the actors were heavily credited with their roles, Emma Stone having won an Oscar.

I would rate it a 9/10, only because sometimes it gets a little cheesy, but other than that it is almost perfection.

 

ZK:
The story of the desperate musician and the struggling actor who fall in love. What audience wouldn’t eat that up? Director Damien Chazelle’s movie-musical sensation La La Land hit the stage in 2016, and stood out with flying colors. Speaking of “colors,” the aesthetics of the film draw your eye into every simple detail. The use of primary colors in the numbers “Another Day of Sun” and “Someone in the Crowd” is what makes those moments so fun and easy for an audience to consume. The low-lighting when classic heart-throb Ryan Gosling plays “Mia & Sebastian’s Theme” and when he croons “City of Stars” draws us into the seriousness of what he is saying in comparison to the many bright party scenes. When the always-charming Emma Stone finally comes close to her success in “Audition”, all the colors and light have faded away except her and her bright red hair: We are drawn to only Stone in this moment and the honesty of the work she can express.

I would rate La La Land a 9.5/10 for its complex characters and relationships, the beautiful soundtrack, and the use of colors and lighting to depict a story that leaves people wanting more.