It’s not like we weren’t already looking forward to La La Land, for all sorts of reasons: it’s the new feature from Whiplash writer/director Damien Chazelle, it reunites ridiculously well-matched Crazy, Stupid, Love (and, y’know, Gangster Squad) co-stars Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone, and it’s “an old-fashioned musical set in contemporary Los Angeles.” Yet all of that was before we’d seen a frame of the movie. Now we’ve seen several, thanks to the release of its first teaser trailer. Get excited.
The mood is surprisingly melancholy – the first stills revealed Stone and Gosling making like Fred and Ginger, but there’s precious little dancing in this one, and more mood. Maybe it’s the expressionistic interstitials, but I’m getting a decidedly Punch Drunk Love vibe, along with a bit of darkness to the rising-stars romance, which somewhat recalls New York, New York.
Whatever it may be, it looks stylish and charming and drop-dead gorgeous:
La La Land co-stars Whiplash Oscar-winner J.K. Simmons, John Legend, and Rosemarie DeWitt. It’s out December 16th; it was originally slated for release this Friday. What can I tell ya, life isn’t fair.