History Film / LaLaLand

* AnAesop: If you want a dream to come true, waiting for your "big break" or for some sort of sign is the wrong way to go about it. You'll have to struggle and sacrifice if you want that dream to come true. The film is clearly trying to tell struggling actors -- and on a wider scale, struggling dreamers in general -- that they're unlikely to find success if they just wait for the right audition to come to them. Mia takes initiative and puts on a show of her own. [[spoiler:That gets the attention of one casting director, which is all she needs to get her big break. Meanwhile, Sebastian takes his own initiative to open his own jazz club with what he wants jazz to be, and becomes successful with it. However, it's still a BittersweetEnding, since Sebastian and Mia don't end up together, as one of the things they needed to give up in order to achieve their dreams was each other.]]

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:Mia and Sebastian end up independently successful, but they don't end up together. Instead, [[DidNotGetTheGirl Mia marries David]] and has a daughter with him. She [[FantasySequence imagines what could have been if she and Sebastian had ended up together]], but she ultimately leaves with David, but not before appreciating the name of the club (which she suggested) and the club logo that she designed. Sebastian sees Mia in the crowd, and the two share a knowing smile before they part ways, seemingly for the final time.]]

* DidNotGetTheGirl: [[spoiler:Mia and Sebastian don't end up together, though we get a taste of what a happy ending between Mia and Sebastian would have looked like in Mia's closing FantasySequence.]]

* AnAesop: The film is clearly trying to tell struggling actors, and on a wider scale struggling dreamers in general, that they're unlikely to find success if they just wait for the right audition to come to them. Mia takes initiative and puts on a show of her own [[spoiler:that does get the attention of one casting director, which is all she needs to get her big break]].

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:Mia and Sebastian end up independently successful, but [[DidNotGetTheGirl Mia marries David]] and has a daughter with him. She [[FantasySequence imagines what could have been if she and Sebastian had ended up together]], but she ultimately leaves with her husband, but not before appreciating the name of the club (which she suggested) and the club logo that she designed. Sebastian sees Mia in the crowd, and the two share a knowing smile before they part ways.]]

''La La Land'' premiered at the Venice Film Festival in August 2016, and was released on December 9, 2016. The film won the Critics' Choice Award for Best Picture, and won in every category it was nominated at the UsefulNotes/{{Golden Globe Award}}s, taking home a record-breaking seven awards. It also earned 14 UsefulNotes/AcademyAward nominations (which is another record, tying the film with ''Film/{{Titanic|1997}}'' and ''Film/AllAboutEve'') and won six, including [[UsefulNotes/AcademyAwardForBestActressInALeadingRole Best Actress]] for Emma Stone and [[UsefulNotes/AcademyAwardForBestDirecting Best Director]] for Damien Chazelle.

* AllMusicalsAreAdaptations: Averted. Though drawing inspiration from a variety of classic movie-musicals, the music and story of ''La La Land'' are both completely original.

[[caption-width-right:299:''"City of Stars, are you shining just for me?"'']]

[[quoteright:299:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/la_la_land_poster.jpg]]

* NotActuallyTheUltimateQuestion: After Mia has had her audition, she and Sebastian have to deal with their relationship:

''La La Land'' is a 2016 American romantic [[TheMusical musical]] dramedy film written and directed by Creator/DamienChazelle. It stars Creator/RyanGosling, Creator/EmmaStone, Creator/JKSimmons, Music/JohnLegend, and Creator/RosemarieDeWitt, with music by Justin Hurwitz and Music/PasekAndPaul.

''La La Land'' premiered at the Venice Film Festival in August 2016, and was released on December 9, 2016. The film won the Critics' Choice Award for Best Picture, and won in every category it was nominated at the Golden Globe Awards, taking home a record-breaking seven awards. It also earned 14 UsefulNotes/AcademyAward nominations (which is another record, tying the film with ''Film/{{Titanic|1997}}'' and ''Film/AllAboutEve'') and won six, including Best Actress for Emma Stone and Best Director for Damien Chazelle.

** [[spoiler:The first and last time Sebastian and Mia meet in a club. The former occurs when both of them are at a low point, and he gives her the brushoff after she becomes amazed after hearing his music while walking past the restaurant. The latter occurs when both have become successful (though following their own paths), but this time they give each other a knowing nod that reflects their journey]].

*** Mia and Sebastian go see ''Film/RebelWithoutACause''. Since the screening is interrupted because the film reel melts, they decide to go to Griffith Observatory which they just saw in the movie.

** The movie itself being filmed in Cinemascope was confirmed as a shout out to 1950s' movie musicals too.
** Keith's band, ''The Messengers'', harkens to 60s-80s funk, soul, and RNB bands like Music/TheSpinners, Music/EarthWindAndFire, Music/TheTemptations, The Ohio Players, et cetera that all took a lot of inspiration from jazz.

* SpiritualAntithesis: Aside from [[AuthorAppeal a love of jazz]], ''La La Land'' serves as the antithesis to ''Film/{{Whiplash}}'', Damien Chazelle's previous film. This is most notable in the two films' tones - where ''Whiplash'' was dark and oppressive with a tinge of BlackComedy, ''La La Land'' is a bright, sparkling, old-fashioned Hollywood musical with just a hint of modern cynicism. Even the one narrative twist they have in common [[spoiler:[[CareerVersusMan (career interests ruin the main love story)]]]] is presented very differently: [[spoiler:Andrew Neiman drives Nicole away from him due to his obsession with jazz and even after the big concert will still die young and a miserable wreck [[LaserGuidedKarma just like the men he idolized]], while Mia and Sebastian get exactly what they want out of their careers [[DidNotGetTheGirl even if they don't end up together]].]] There's even a counterpart in the characters of J.K. Simmons, going from a mean guy who's a jazz maniac to a mean guy who doesn't want to hear any jazz from Sebastian.

* StylisticSuck: A lot of the productions that Mia is auditioning for sound pretty bad, and Mia's line reads aren't exactly great, either.
-->'''Mia:''' ''(reading from a script)'' This is my classroom! You don't like it, the door's to my left!
-->'''Casting Director:''' Lady, why you be trippin' like that?
-->'''Mia:''' No, Jamal... ''you'' be trippin'.

[[caption-width-right:299:''[[{{Tagline}} Here's to the fools who dream.]]'']]

''La La Land'' is a 2016 American romantic [[TheMusical musical]] dramedy film written and directed by Creator/DamienChazelle. It stars Creator/RyanGosling, Creator/EmmaStone, Creator/JKSimmons, Music/JohnLegend, and Rosemarie [=DeWitt=], with music by Justin Hurwitz and Music/PasekAndPaul.

* ManicPixieDreamGirl: Sebastian has been [[https://in.news.yahoo.com/ryan-gosling-manic-pixie-dream-220000812.html noted]] to be a rare genderswapped version of this trope, spending a lot of time making sure that down-on-her-luck Mia feels as safe, supported, and encouraged to follow her ambitions as possible, with his own dreams of opening the jazz club usually secondary to the narrative against Mia's dreams, as the plot follows her story more.

* AnAesop: The film is clearly trying to tell struggling actors, and on a wider scale struggling dreamers in general, that they're unlikely to find success if they just wait for the right audition to come to them. Mia takes initiative and puts on a show of her own [[spoiler: that does get the attention of one casting director, which is all she needs to get her big break]].

* AmicableExes: [[spoiler: After the five-year time skip, the only interaction we see between Sebastian and Mia is a smile akin to that of a salute, implying they're still on good terms despite no longer communicating]].

* BabiesEverAfter: [[spoiler: Mia has a child after the time skip, but it's with David, not Sebastian. A child with Sebastian is also a part of her FantasySequence.]]

* BigWhat: Sebastian's response to [[spoiler: Mia refusing to answer the request of the casting director that attended her one-woman play, because she says any further disappointment would break her. He immediately lays into that line of thinking]].
* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler: Mia and Sebastian end up independently successful, but [[DidNotGetTheGirl Mia marries David]] and has a daughter with him. She [[FantasySequence imagines what could have been if she and Sebastian had ended up together]], but she ultimately leaves with her husband, but not before appreciating the name of the club (which she suggested) and the club logo that she designed. Sebastian sees Mia in the crowd, and the two share a knowing smile before they part ways.]]

** Early in the film, an unnamed celebrity visits the coffee shop where Mia works and pays for a drink despite being offered a freebie by the starry-eyed staff. [[spoiler: Near the end, the scene repeats with Mia herself being the celebrity.]]

** [[spoiler: The first and last time Sebastian and Mia meet in a club. The former occurs when both of them are at a low point, and he gives her the brushoff after she becomes amazed after hearing his music while walking past the restaurant. The latter occurs when both have become successful (though following their own paths), but this time they give each other a knowing nod that reflects their journey]].

** In Mia's closing FantasySequence, the outcome of this scene is changed to [[spoiler: a straight use of the trope, as it now culminates in a romantic OrbitalKiss between the two]].

** Early in the movie, Sebastian chastises his sister for sitting on a prized wooden stool that belonged to a famous jazz musician. [[spoiler: At the end of the film, the stool is displayed prominently in Sebastian's own jazz bar and is basically the first thing anyone sees when they enter the room. It's even on a pedestal putting it at roughly chest height. ''No one'' is ever sitting on it again.]]

** A tragic one. Early in the film, Sebastian asks Mia to go on a movie night with him, but when the time comes Mia forgets that she already has a date with her current boyfriend. After hanging Sebastian up for quite a big while, Mia finally excuses herself to meet him at the theater just in time for the movie to begin. [[spoiler: Later in the movie, it's Sebastian who has a date with Mia at her solo stage show, but he forgets that he has a photograph session with his band during that time. Unlike last time, Sebastian failed to show up until Mia's show already ended, hurting Mia even further in addition to the overall negative reception of her show.]]
** Another one that is also a MeaningfulEcho: when Mia first talks about jazz, she says she sees it as "elevator music" that her parents would put on during dinner parties to talk over, and Sebastian protests vehemently. At their dinner date, [[spoiler: Sebastian puts jazz on the radio to serve as a background to their conversation. It shows just how much he abandoned his values and his dreams, which incidentally is the origin of their fight that night.]]

* DarkReprise: A [[LonelyPianoPiece somber instrumental version]] of "Someone in the Crowd" (''"Someone in the crowd could be the one you need to know / The one to fin'lly lift you off the ground"'') plays as Mia returns home following her underperformed one-woman show and breakup with Sebastian. [[spoiler: However, it doubles as a subtle MeaningfulEcho, as one person in the audience of her play did turn out to be the turning point of her career.]]
* DeusExMachina: The idea of La La Land being a place of changing fortunes where anything can happen is reinforced when [[spoiler: after Mia's one-woman show appears to flop, it turns out one of the few attendees was a casting agent so impressed she offers her the opportunity to spend eight months writing and starring in a film in Paris, despite her being a total unknown, propelling her to stardom in a few short years.]]
* DidNotGetTheGirl: [[spoiler: Mia and Sebastian don't end up together, though we get a taste of what a happy ending between Mia and Sebastian would have looked like in Mia's closing FantasySequence.]]

* DreamMelody: City of Stars sort of qualifies as this. Sebastian first [[spoiler: performs the song alone out on the boardwalk, then in a duet with Mia, and during the closing credits a humming version is performed by Emma Stone.]] The song's lyrics serve as a sort of ArcWords, speaking to the theme of dreams and how the setting of LA often simultaneously fosters and destroys those dreams.

* TheElevenOClockNumber: "Audition (The Fools Who Dream)". It's the final song in the movie with lyrics, and the only two numbers that follow it on the soundtrack are "Epilogue" and "The End", both of which are medleys of other songs throughout the movies. And story-wise, it [[spoiler: represents the resolution to Mia's career storyline, with only one scene in the movie between it and the epilogue]].

* FantasySequence: Mia has a breathtaking one when she sees Sebastian at his club and imagines [[spoiler: the life she could have had with him]].

** Opening number "Another Day of Sun" both sets up the characters' motivations and foreshadows the plot of the film. One line in particular could be seen as [[spoiler: hinting about the fate of Mia and Sebastian's relationship.]]

** Also, the ''Casablanca'' window Mia points out to Seb on the Warner Bros. lot. [[spoiler: ''Casablanca'' is a famous example of DidNotGetTheGirl.]]
* ForWantOfANail: The ending plays with the concept in a deliberately fantastical way with [[spoiler: Sebastian kissing Mia when they meet at the lounge he was fired from before having even spoken]] as opposed to something that would've feasibly happened to change the story.

* HonkingArrivingCar: A recurring motif. At the beginning of the film, Sebastian blares his horn angrily at Mia while stuck in a traffic jam, but as they grow closer to each other, Sebastian sounds his car horn in the same manner whenever he picks Mia up for a date at her apartment. [[spoiler: This also comes into play towards the end of the film after Mia returns to Colorado, and Sebastian goes looking for her. When she hears his car horn, she immediately knows that he came all the way from Los Angeles just for her.]]

* MeaningfulEcho: Towards the beginning of the film, Mia is working in the coffee shop on the Warner Bros lot when an unnamed but obviously famous star enters and orders a coffee. Mia and her co-worker serve her, and say that it's on the house, but she says "Oh no, I insist," and pays for it and leaves; we see her going outside and re-entering her golf cart on her way to whatever set she's working at. At the end of the film, [[spoiler: Mia, now a famous star, enters the same coffee shop and orders ''two'' coffees. She is offered them on the house, but she says "Oh no, I insist", pays, leaves a tip, and goes out to her own golf cart. The meaningful difference is that one coffee's for her, and the other one's for her driver.]]

** David as well, who appears to be a pleasant, patient man and [[spoiler: a good husband and father.]]

* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: [[spoiler: When Mia believes that her show has failed and she's become a laughingstock who can't even pay back the theatre for hosting her work, she instantly gives up and tells Sebastian that she's going back to Nevada. It takes a lot of convincing from Sebastian (and a well-timed call from a casting director) to bring her back.]]

* SpiritualAntithesis: Aside from [[AuthorAppeal a love of jazz]], ''La La Land'' serves as the antithesis to ''Film/{{Whiplash}}'', Damien Chazelle's previous film. This is most notable in the two films' tones - where ''Whiplash'' was dark and oppressive with a tinge of BlackComedy, ''La La Land'' is a bright, sparkling, old-fashioned Hollywood musical with just a hint of modern cynicism. Even the one narrative twist they have in common [[spoiler: [[CareerVersusMan (career interests ruin the main love story)]]]] is presented very differently: [[spoiler: Andrew Neiman drives Nicole away from him due to his obsession with jazz and even after the big concert will still die young and a miserable wreck [[LaserGuidedKarma just like the men he idolized]], while Mia and Sebastian get exactly what they want out of their careers [[DidNotGetTheGirl even if they don't end up together]].]] There's even a counterpart in the characters of J.K. Simmons, going from a mean guy who's a jazz maniac to a mean guy who doesn't want to hear any jazz from Sebastian.

* WhamLine: "Maybe you just liked me when I was on my ass 'cause it made you feel better about yourself." [[spoiler: It's the final word Sebastian gets in a bitter fight he has with Mia about the direction his career is going on. The silence between them afterwards, along with Mia being visibly on the verge of tears, indicates he knows he went too far. It's even given an appropriate visual metaphor with the dish Sebastian was cooking in the oven burning and setting off the smoke alarm.]]
* WhamShot: [[spoiler: The five-year TimeSkip in the epilogue shows Mia becoming a famous celebrity living happily in a large villa. When she got home, she walks over to and kisses her husband... who is ''not'' Sebastian, having a little child with him to boot.]]
* WhereAreTheyNowEpilogue: [[spoiler: The final scene of the movie jumps five years into the future to show that Mia and Sebastian are no longer together, but that Mia has become a big movie star and is now HappilyMarried with a child, while Sebastian has finally opened his jazz club which is a success.]]

* AnAesop: The film is clearly trying to tell struggling actors, and on a wider scale struggling dreamers in general, that they're unlikely to find success if they just wait for the right audition to come to them. Mia takes initiative and puts on a show of her own [[spoiler:that does get the attention of one casting director, which is all she needs to get her big break]].

* AmicableExes: [[spoiler:After the five year time skip, the only interaction we see between Sebastian and Mia is a smile akin to that of a salute, implying they're still on good terms despite no longer communicating]].

* BabiesEverAfter: [[spoiler:Mia has a child after the time skip, but it's with David, not Sebastian. A child with Sebastian is also a part of her FantasySequence.]]

* BigWhat: Sebastian's response to [[spoiler: Mia refusing to answer the request of the casting director that attended her one-woman play, because she says any further disappointment would break her. He immediately lays into that line of thinking]].
* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:Mia and Sebastian end up independently successful, but [[DidNotGetTheGirl Mia marries David]] and has a daughter with him. She [[FantasySequence imagines what could have been if she and Sebastian had ended up together]], but she ultimately leaves with her husband, but not before appreciating the name of the club (which she suggested) and the club logo that she designed. Sebastian sees Mia in the crowd, and the two share a knowing smile before they part ways.]]

** Early in the film, an unnamed celebrity visits the coffee shop where Mia works and pays for a drink despite being offered a freebie by the starry-eyed staff. [[spoiler:Near the end, the scene repeats with Mia herself being the celebrity.]]

** [[spoiler:The first and last time Sebastian and Mia meet in a club. The former occurs when both of them are at a low point, and he gives her the brushoff after she becomes amazed after hearing his music while walking past the restaurant. The latter occurs when both have become successful (though following their own paths), but this time they give each other a knowing nod that reflects their journey]].

** In Mia's closing FantasySequence, the outcome of this scene is changed to [[spoiler:a straight use of the trope, as it now culminates in a romantic OrbitalKiss between the two]].

** Early in the movie, Sebastian chastises his sister for sitting on a prized wooden stool that belonged to a famous jazz musician. [[spoiler: At the end of the film, the stool is displayed prominently in Sebastian's own jazz bar and is basically the first thing anyone sees when they enter the room. It's even on a pedestal putting it at roughly chest height. ''No one'' is ever sitting on it again.]]

** A tragic one. Early in the film, Sebastian asks Mia to go on a movie night with him, but when the time comes Mia forgets that she already has a date with her current boyfriend. After hanging Sebastian up for quite a big while, Mia finally excuses herself to meet him at the theater just in time for the movie to begin. [[spoiler: Later in the movie, it's Sebastian who has a date with Mia at her solo stage show, but he forgets that he has a photograph session with his band during that time. Unlike last time, Sebastian failed to show up until Mia's show already ended, hurting Mia even further in addition to the overall negative reception of her show.]]
** Another one that is also a MeaningfulEcho: when Mia first talks about jazz, she says she sees it as "elevator music" that her parents would put on during dinner parties to talk over, and Sebastian protests vehemently. At their dinner date, [[spoiler: Sebastian puts jazz on the radio to serve as a background to their conversation. It shows just how much he abandoned his values and his dreams, which incidentally is the origin of their fight that night.]]

* ColorMotif: Blue is associated with Sebastian and more pensive, melancholy scenes, while yellow is associated with Mia and bold, bright scenes. As their characters mature, the palette gradually becomes more sober and de-saturated.

* DarkReprise: A [[LonelyPianoPiece somber instrumental version]] of "Someone in the Crowd" (''"Someone in the crowd could be the one you need to know / The one to fin'lly lift you off the ground"'') plays as Mia returns home following her underperformed one-woman show and breakup with Sebastian. [[spoiler:However, it doubles as a subtle MeaningfulEcho, as one person in the audience of her play did turn out to be the turning point of her career.]]
* DeusExMachina: The idea of La La Land being a place of changing fortunes where anything can happen is reinforced when [[spoiler: after Mia's one-woman show appears to flop, it turns out one of the few attendees was a casting agent so impressed she offers her the opportunity to spend eight months writing and starring in a film in Paris, despite her being a total unknown, propelling her to stardom in a few short years.]]
* DidNotGetTheGirl: [[spoiler:Mia and Sebastian don't end up together, though we get a taste of what a happy ending between Mia and Sebastian would have looked like in Mia's closing FantasySequence.]]

* DreamMelody: City of Stars sort of qualifies as this. Sebastian first [[spoiler:performs the song alone out on the boardwalk, then in a duet with Mia, and during the closing credits a humming version is performed by Emma Stone.]] The song's lyrics serve as a sort of ArcWords, speaking to the theme of dreams and how the setting of LA often simultaneously fosters and destroys those dreams.

* TheElevenOClockNumber: "Audition (The Fools Who Dream)". It's the final song in the movie with lyrics, and the only two numbers that follow it on the soundtrack are "Epilogue" and "The End", both of which are medleys of other songs throughout the movies. And story-wise, it [[spoiler:represents the resolution to the Mia's career storyline, with only one scene in the movie between it and the epilogue]].
* FailedAuditionPlot: Mia fails many auditions. Finally, she decides to write a one-woman show. In the end, she is selected at an audition.

* FantasySequence: Mia has a breathtaking one when she sees Sebastian at his club and imagines [[spoiler:the life she could have had with him]].

** Opening number "Another Day of Sun" both sets up the characters' motivations and foreshadows the plot of the film. One line in particular could be seen as [[spoiler:hinting about the fate of Mia and Sebastian's relationship.]]

** Also, the ''Casablanca'' window Mia points out to Seb on the Warner Bros. lot. [[spoiler:''Casablanca'' is a famous example of DidNotGetTheGirl.]]
* ForWantOfANail: The ending plays with the concept in a deliberately fantastical way with [[spoiler:Sebastian kissing Mia when they meet at the lounge he was fired from before having even spoken]] as opposed to something that would've feasibly happened to change the story.

* HonkingArrivingCar: A recurring motif. At the beginning of the film, Sebastian blares his horn angrily at Mia while stuck in a traffic jam, but as they grow closer to each other, Sebastian sounds his car horn in the same manner whenever he picks Mia up for a date at her apartment. [[spoiler: This also comes into play towards the end of the film after Mia returns to Colorado, and Sebastian goes looking for her. When she hears his car horn, she immediately knows that he came all the way from Los Angeles just for her.]]

* {{Leitmotif}}: [[LoveTheme "Mia & Sebastian's Theme"]], appropriately enough, which return again and again throughout the film, played in different styles to represent the moods and shifts of their relationship.

* MeanBoss: Bill, the boss of Lipton's restaurant, played deliciously by Creator/JKSimmons. Not only does he browbeat Sebastian into playing only trite Christmas songs without any room for improvisation or variety, but he immediately fires Sebastian after the latter lapses into playing a jazz piece he's been working on.

* MeaningfulEcho: Towards the beginning of the film, Mia is working in the coffee shop on the Warner Bros lot when an unnamed but obviously famous star enters and orders a coffee. Mia and her co-worker serve her, and say that it's on the house, but she says "Oh no, I insist," and pays for it and leaves; we see her going outside and re-entering her golf cart on her way to whatever set she's working at. At the end of the film, [[spoiler: Mia, now a famous star, enters the same coffee shop and orders ''two'' coffees. She is offered them on the house, but she says "Oh no, I insist", pays, leaves a tip, and goes out to her own golf cart. The meaningful difference is that one coffee's for her, and the other one's for her driver.]]

* MissedTheRecital: Sebastian has a photo shoot that prevents him from making it to Mia's one woman show until after it's over.

** David as well, who appears to be a pleasant, patient man and [[spoiler: a good husband and father.]]

** CrowdSong "Another Day of Sun" is six minutes long, and even though it's actually three shots connected by {{Whip Pan}}s, each of those shots are very long by themselves, and comprise not only of the song but also the establishing shot beforehand and about a minute of Mia and Sebastian's initial MeetCute. The amount of camera movement is in contrast to recent major live-action movie musicals, such as ''Film/ThePhantomOfTheOpera2004'' and ''Film/LesMiserables2012'', which often had very static cameras during their musical numbers.

* OrbitalKiss: Mia imagines to have one with Sebastian in her FantasySequence at the end.
* PrinciplesZealot: Sebastian is this in regards to jazz, not only engaging in a personal crusade to restore its popularity, but even turning up his nose at attempts to modernize it to appeal to a younger audience.

* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: [[spoiler:When Mia believes that her show has failed and she's become a laughingstock who can't even pay back the theatre for hosting her work, she instantly gives up and tells Sebastian that she's going back to Nevada. It takes a lot of convincing from Sebastian (and a well-timed call from a casting director) to bring her back.]]

** At the beginning of the '[=80s=] [[PoolScene pool party scene]], a woman in a red bikini gets a SexySurfacingShot as she exits the pool and appears to grasp the front closure of her top, which reminiscent of the famous scene in ''Film/FastTimesAtRidgemontHigh''.

* SpiritualAntithesis: Aside from [[AuthorAppeal a love of jazz]], ''La La Land'' serves as the antithesis to ''Film/{{Whiplash}}'', Damien Chazelle's previous film. This is most notable in the two films' tones - where ''Whiplash'' was dark and oppressive with a tinge of BlackComedy, ''La La Land'' is a bright, sparkling, old-fashioned Hollywood musical with just a hint of modern cynicism. Even the one narrative twist they have in common [[spoiler:[[CareerVersusMan (career interests ruin the main love story)]]]] is presented very differently: [[spoiler:Andrew Neiman drives Nicole away from him due to his obsession with jazz and even after the big concert will still die young and a miserable wreck [[LaserGuidedKarma just like the men he idolised]], while Mia and Sebastian get exactly what they want out of their careers [[DidNotGetTheGirl even if they don't end up together]].]] There's even a counterpart in the characters of J.K. Simmons, going from a mean guy who's a jazz maniac to a mean guy who doesn't want to hear any jazz from Sebastian.
* SpontaneousChoreography: The opener has a huge number of people dance amongst the cars on a highway.

* WhamLine: "Maybe you just liked me when I was on my ass 'cause it made you feel better about yourself." [[spoiler:It's the final word Sebastian gets in a bitter fight he has with Mia about the direction his career is going on. The silence between them afterwards, along with Mia being visibly on the verge of tears, indicates he knows he went too far. It's even given an appropriate visual metaphor with the dish Sebastian was cooking in the oven burning and setting off the smoke alarm.]]
* WhamShot: [[spoiler:The five-year TimeSkip in the epilogue shows Mia becoming a famous celebrity living happily in a large villa. When she got home, she walks over to and kisses her husband... who is ''not'' Sebastian, having a little child with him to boot.]]
* WhereAreTheyNowEpilogue: [[spoiler:The final scene of the movie jumps five years into the future to show that Mia and Sebastian are no longer together, but that Mia has become a big movie star and is now HappilyMarried with a child, while Sebastian has finally opened his jazz club which is a success.]]

* MeanBoss: Bill, the boss of Lipton's restaurant, played deliciously by Creator/JKSimmons. Not only does he browbeat Sebastian into playing only trite Christmas songs without any room for improvisation or variety, but he fires Sebastian after the latter plays ''one'' gentle jazz piece.

** During Mia's FailureMontage, she plays a tough teacher in an inner-city school, which is a clear reference to ''Film/{{DangerousMinds}}'' down to pputting on Creator/MichellePfeiffer's leather jacket.

* CallBack: A tragic one. Early in the film, Sebastian asks Mia to go on a movie night with him, but when the time comes Mia forgets that she already has a date with her current boyfriend. After hanging Sebastian up for quite a big while, Mia finally excuses herself to meet him at the theater just in time for the movie to begin. [[spoiler: Later in the movie, it's Sebastian who has a date with Mia at her solo stage show, but he forgets that he has a photograph session with his band during that time. Unlike last time, Sebastian failed to show up until Mia's show already ended, hurting Mia even further in addition to the overall negative reception of her show.]]
** Another one, that is also a Meaningful Echo: when Mia first talks about jazz, she says she sees it as "elevator music" that her parents would put on during dinner parties to talk over, and Sebastian protests vehemently. At their dinner date, [[spoiler: Sebastian puts jazz on the radio to serve as a background to their conversation. It shows just how much he abandoned his values and his dreams, which incidentally is the origin of their fight that night.]]

* SaveOurStudents: Mia auditions for a role in one of these kinds of movies ("No, Jamal... ''you'' be trippin'.")
* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: [[spoiler:When Mia believes that her show has failed and she's become a laughing stock who can't even pay back the theatre for hosting her work, she instantly gives up and tells Sebastian that she's going back to Nevada. It takes a lot of convincing from Sebastian (and a well-timed call from a casting director) to bring her back]].

** During Mia's FailureMontage she plays a tough teacher in an inner-city school. A clear reference to ''Film/{{DangerousMinds}}''. Even putting on Creator/MichellePfeiffer 's leather jacket.
** At the beginning of the 80's [[PoolScene pool party scene]], a woman in a red bikini gets a SexySurfacingShot as she exits the pool and appears to grasp the front closure of her top, which reminiscent of the famous scene in ''Film/FastTimesAtRidgemontHigh''.

* StylisticSuck: A lot of the productions that Mia is auditioning for sound pretty bad, and Mia's line reads aren't exactly great either.
-->'''Mia:''' (reading from a script) This is my classroom! You don't like it, the door's to my left!

-->'''Mia:''' No, Jamal... You be trippin'!

* TotallyRadical: PlayedForLaughs; at the end of a [[FailureMontage string of auditions for bad roles]], Mia painfully reads the line "[[NoYou No, you]] be trippin'."
* TruckDriversGearChange: During the climax of [[https://youtu.be/SL_YMm9C6tw?t=164 "Audition"]] the pitch shifts four semitones up from F to A.

* WhamLine: "Maybe you just liked me when I was on my ass 'cause it made you feel better about yourself." [[spoiler:The silence between Mia and Sebastian indicates Sebastian knows he went too far. It's even given an appropriate visual metaphor with the dish Sebastian was cooking in the oven burning and setting off the smoke alarm.]]
* WhamShot: [[spoiler:The five years TimeSkip in the epilogue shows Mia becoming a famous celebrity living happily in a large villa. When she got home, she walks over to and kisses her husband... who is ''not'' Sebastian, having a little child with him to boot.]]

''La La Land'' premiered at the Venice Film Festival in August 2016, and was released on December 9, 2016. The film won the Critics' Choice Award for Best Picture, and won in every category it was nominated at the Golden Globe Awards, with a record-breaking seven wins. It also earned 14 Oscar nominations (which is a record, tied with ''Film/{{Titanic|1997}}'' and ''Film/AllAboutEve''), and won six, including Best Actress for Emma Stone and Best Director for Damien Chazelle.

* DarkReprise: A [[LonelyPianoPiece somber instrumental version]] of "Someone in the Crowd" (''"Someone in the crowd could be the one you need to know / The one to fin'lly lift you off the ground"'') plays as Mia returns home following her underperformed one-woman show and breakup with Sebastian. [[spoiler:Doubles as a subtle MeaningfulEcho, as one person in the audience of her play did turn out to be the turning point of her career.]]

* RuleOfPool: The end of "Someone In The Crowd" exaggerates this trope as a man in a suit does a flip off a balcony into the pool below and is followed by several other fully dressed men jumping into said pool.

* WhamLine: "You're just an actress." [[spoiler:The silence between Mia and Sebastian indicates Sebastian knows he went too far. It's even given an appropriate visual metaphor with the dish Sebastian was cooking in the oven burning and setting off the smoke alarm.]]

The story follows two young people trying to make it in Los Angeles, the city of stars known for destroying hopes and breaking hearts -- Mia, an aspiring actress, and Sebastian, an aspiring jazz musician. They fall in love after a series of chance meetings, and try to make it despite their dreams at odds with reality -- and eventually, each other.

* BelligerentSexualTension: The leads' relationship starts out this way. They first meet when she flips him off in traffic, and they continue sparring through "A Lovely Night," which is all about how there's [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial no chemistry between them]], no way no how.