TORONTO — “You’re my first, so I apologize if I’m a little rusty.”
Ryan Gosling — he of the “ludicrous good looks” (Danny Leigh, The Guardian) and bona-fide movie-star r?sum? including, once upon a showbiz childhood, “The All New Mickey Mouse Club” — is making a cup of tea and readying himself for a string of interviews at a downtown Toronto hotel, in support of his new film, “La La Land.”
It’s a musical, if you hadn’t heard, and it’s really something. Writer-director Damien Chazelle’s third feature, following “Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench” (same excellent composer, Justin Hurwitz) and “Whiplash” (also featuring Hurwitz’s compositions and arrangements), appears to be a likely story in the larger story of the imminent awards season.
Heavily indebted in style and tone to Jacques Demy’s beguiling “Umbrellas of Cherbourg” and “The Young Girls of Rochefort,” dotted with visual allusions to Hollywood musicals ranging from “The Big Broadcast of 1940” to “Singin’ in the Rain” and “The Band Wagon,” “La La Land” enjoyed a gaga reception in its Aug. 31 Venice Film Festival world premiere. A couple of days later: a similarly warm response at the Telluride Film Festival for its unofficial North American premiere.
At Venice, Emma Stone won the best actress award for her role in the film, and she’s a pretty good bet for an Oscar, I’d say. She plays Mia, a barista and aspiring actress. She meets jazz pianist and aspiring club owner Sebastian, played by Gosling, a “pigheaded, stubborn guy,” in the words of writer-director Chazelle. Is it a love meant to be?