La La Land, a truly modern Hollywood musical, strikes all the best chords
LOS ANGELES IS A CITY OF TRAFFIC. So it only makes sense that La La Land, in theaters Dec. 9, opens in the thick of it—a long, glittering caterpillar of cars stopped on an elevated freeway that stretches out to the horizon under an enamel-blue California sky. It’s just another day of sun in L.A., not a particularly romantic setting for a musical about dreamers. But then a car door opens and a woman steps out—and bursts into song. As dozens join her, the scene becomes an unapologetic celebration of the all-American thirst for greatness and hope.
It’s a bold cold open for an original movie musical, asking us to buy into a world in which spontaneous song is
