La La Land is a movie about hopes, dreams and heartbreaks.
And it could not have hoped for a better opening salvo than ‘Another Day of Sun,’ a song about – you guessed it – hopes, dreams and heartbreaks.
Not only is the 6-minute scene stupendously well-crafted from a technical standpoint, but it also does a wonderful job of ushering audiences into the world Damien Chazelle has so lovingly created.
Shot over two days on a Los Angeles freeway overpass, the scene, much like many others of such scope and magnitude, was a nightmare to film. But Chazelle and team pulled it off.
The level of planning and the attention to detail that went into making this sequence a reality is honestly awe-inspiring.
Aside from the technical wizardry on show, what impressed me the most was the storytelling aspect of it all.
We are shown (not told) that Los Angeles is a city of dreams and dreamers. All those people in the shot have a story of their own, dreams of their own, heartbreaks of their own.
And towards the end, we are introduced to the two dreamers we will spend the next two or so hours with – Mia and Sebastian.
Then there’s the song itself. Wonderfully upbeat but with a tinge of sombreness, the song perfectly captures what it is like to be fools who dream.
There’s great beauty in it, but it can also be a path fraught with pain and despair. But you keep going. Because it’s the only thing you know.
This sequence was met with a rapturous reception in my theatre, and I’m sure that wasn’t an anomaly. It perfectly sets the stage for what’s to come.
And although ultimately, I didn’t quite fall in love with La La Land like a lot of other people did, I adore this sequence. It’s full of passion, it’s new and it’s very, very exciting.
Here’s to the ones who dream, foolish as they may seem.
And when they let you down
You'll get up off the ground
The morning rolls around
And it's another day of sun
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