Arts

Life and Love Lessons from La La Land

March 14, 2020

I first watched this movie exactly two years ago. I recently rewatched it to refresh everything, hoping I’m able to write something half as powerful as the movie.

 

The acting and music perfectly complemented and enhanced each other, with the meaning being the primary beneficiary of it, accentuated by the aforementioned aspects of the movie.

 

So real, so raw, so remarkable. A bittersweet movie that perfectly captured the cruel side of life.

 

Sebastian and Mia’s individual and collective stories embodied how wonderfully traumatic life can be.

 

A talented Jazz pianist aspiring for notoriety. An aspiring actress searching for her big break. 

 

During their respective individual quests to success—they run into each other and—their stories become forever intertwined.

 

Though the whole movie can be used as a symbol of life, these takeaways from the movie will forever be ingrained in my mind

 

Life:

Things unfold at their own pace.

  • What you want now might not present itself until later.
  • What you want later might present itself now. 
  • As I’ve said before, life is about adapting and reacting as much as it is planning and being proactive.

 

Most memorable scenes from the movie:

  • “I’m letting life hit me until it gets tired. Then I’ll hit back. It’s a classic rope-a-dope”
    • Next thing you know, Sebastian meets an old college friend and he becomes their “keys”.
  • The number of supporters you have doesn’t matter, what matters is who supports you.
    • Mia’s one woman play, on first glance, was a failure. When the lights turned on, there were just a handful in the audience, and as a result, she couldn’t pay back the theater. Feeling like a failure, she decided to “grow up” and move back home to get a real job.
    • By the end, however, there was a woman who admired what she saw and decided that she’s perfect for a role, which would prove to be her big break.
  • Success is for resilient dreamers with the proper support system.
    • Mia kept on trying, trying, gave up, and then went back to believing, with the right push from Sebastian, of course.
  • Towards the end of the movie, Sebastian didn’t play the last note of his song, almost as if he’s implying that he’s not ready to let go.
    • Sometimes, there will be scenarios that you can’t help but reimagine, always wondering how life would’ve been if you decided to live out one choice over another.
  • After playing his song, Sebastian looks up and sees Mia, walking out with her husband, and as she looks back, their eyes meet, then he lets out a half smile full of emotions—jubilation, contemplation, lamentation, and satisfaction—that softly proclaims, reciprocated by a big smile from Mia, that he did it and he’s proud that she did it too.
    • Something so complex can be summed up by something so simple
    • Something so heartbreaking can also be something you cheer about
    • Something that you once dreamt about can forever just stay a dream

 

Love:

  • Romantic relationships can be tricky.
    • Like life, you never know when you’ll meet someone that might just turn your whole life around.
    • You might not be looking for someone now but life will do everything it can in its power to make sure that you meet someone now.
    • You might be looking for someone now but life won’t present that opportunity until you’re deemed ready for it.
  • Sometimes, letting go is the best thing you can do.
    • Being able to express your emotions physically might not be the best choice anymore but they forever stay in your thoughts.
  • You can experience almost everything together but not share the spoils.
    • They might have been the inspiration for why you started, the reason for everything you have, but the person you started with might not reap the rewards with you.
  • Sometimes, it’s not the people that are connected, their dreams are.
    • They see themselves in the dream of the other person and misinterpret as such.

 

Sebastian and Mia can both say “I did it”, “you did it”, and if to each other, “we did it”.

Unfortunately, neither can say “we did it” about each other. 

 

Life can be accommodating and cruel at the same time.

Love can be wonderful and awful at the same time.

 

The best things happen to those who are willing to keep trying.
The biggest challenges and the biggest risks often become the most gratifying.

 

Moments are fleeting but everlasting.

You can do anything but not everything.

 

That’s both for Life and Love.