Movie Review La La Land

A day With her, the Space theater, Monorail & La La Land...

Arka Bhattacharya,

                                               (1)

Engulfed by the tunes, Mia and her husband entered the pub. Simple notes of Jazz combined with the saxophone and Piano gave the timbre to the ambiance. A rhythm with casual rolls of drum in a little higher tempo and arpeggios through the chords gave the chill to feel your shoulders move. After stepping in through the doors, Mia stopped for a while in front of the neon lit sign. Unsettled with the sudden rush of memories she kept staring at the sign. A known face and good times from her past, poured in her mind. Going through the posters and mementos hanging by the wall she was considering those missing years, she predicted well before. 

"Then the known face appeared on the stage as rumble of applause broke the silence"
-- From a Drama.

Sitting next to her husband Mia saw the man on stage. Those years in between her life changed everything except this man and the feelings for him. She was lost with the flow, and those strings were torn, but the mind retained this face in the library of her good memories. 

"Their eyes met, and he drew a smile on his lips."

'Welcome to Seb's'

Key notes from A-minor touched the bars of Piano and Mia felt a pull from her past and moved through her thoughts five years back.

                                                                               (2)

"It's not that easy to wipe out my fears" Hia took a sip of coffee and framed those words with a numb tune. 

Abir reconsidered the facts and nodded. The street light portrayed her face with lights and shades depicting the worry that invaded her mind. He was looking for words to give a reply, but yield in only with a smile. Truth is very rude and defeat is the only choice. A silence prevailed between their conversation.

"It's too sunny right? Uff!!"

Abir was dumbfounded with those words from Hia. Following her eyes he found the reason of such comment. Near the entry gate of Monorail a teenage kid was wearing sunglass and posing for a selfie under the street light.

This girl is full of surprises. One can never predict her thoughts. Sometimes emotional with bitter truth and within few moments she can shift to more lighter mode and can crack jokes like no one else could. Abir just curved a smile and put his lips shut due to lack of confidence on his chosen words. He was considering the difference between their first movie show and this show.

                                                                        (3)

"Are you busy today?" coming out of the movie theater Hia asked. 

"I've kept my slot for you today"

"Actually I have some extra time to spend." Hia mumbled.

"Ok, lets go to CCD, couple of blocks from here." Abir searched for nearest CCD on google and showed her the location.

"Lets walk then?"

Both came to the service road next to HiLand Park. Ongoing project of Metro occupied the main road, so the service road was little crowded than usual. After few minutes Hia shared the reason for such leisure time. They laughed and giggled and shared thoughts regarding the movie they have seen together. 

 The full moon was staring at them with a dim face. Street lights were more noisy than her calm reflection. Both were enjoying their company when suddenly Hia leaped over a pothole filled with water. Somewhere near the road, a pipeline may have broke, and the spilled water was flowing across. Abir found a glimpse of the moon on the stagnant water and gave a look to the sky. 

"Just like a pan cake right?" Hia made the comment and moved forward to avoid the crowd.  

Abir tried to figure out the moon and the pan cake comparison. Defeated again, he moved forward.

"Hey look, there's a plane." Hia walked in a lane with lesser crowd and pointed towards the western sky.

The ongoing construction of Metro station blocked the sky from the place where Abir was standing. Hia moved towards him and pointed to the sky. The flying giant appeared with blinking lights on its wings and tail. The slow acceleration of the plane and the moon behind it made the evening sky a catchy landscape. 

"Am waiting for that day to feel the thrill of flying." Abir muttered.

"Don't tell me you never took a flight?" Hia started moving.

"Both me and my cell phone, never experienced the flight mode." Abir chuckled. And both started laughing. 

                                                                            (4)

  

The ongoing shows were listed on screen above the ticket counter. Hia was excited about the movie La La Land. Abir was thinking about something else, but with out any argument he decided to go with Hia's decision. Her selection about new movies were always overwhelming ones and Abir enjoyed them the most.

This morning was not like the usual one. Hia was upset with some issues and was engaged in thoughts. When things come on your head, you start to realize its importance and impact on life. Many times life gives this many situations to go through it. Hia was entrapped in such a situation that has no way out. On the contrast Abir was a fun loving person simplifying all categories of trouble in life comparing with stock market. 

Leading a life like a cheapskate Abir was fond of earning. Hia came as a break in that life and changed the thoughts of Abir. She shared her dreams with Abir and Abir felt the urge to re-write his life story in a different manner. 

Waiting in the KFC stall Hia was lost in her thoughts. When your company is roaming in the land of thoughts better not to interrupt and find a new job to utilize your time. Abir found his new job to follow the token numbers coming on the screen at the counter of KFC. 

"There is your number" Hia spoke as the number 185 came on screen.

Abir was following those numbers since last 10 minutes with full concentration and confidence. But unfortunately forgot his own token number that was blinking on the screen. The more you want to avoid stupid thoughts, the more you will find it. Abir was lost in his thoughts about how to pull out Hia's worries and bring a smile on her face.

Sipping the Coke Abir spoke, "You better laugh at your fate and live your life."

"And that's going to solve my problems?" The reaction was harsh but true enough. 

Re-framing his words Abir mumbled "But this may add some salt to your tasteless food."

Her worries on her face turned into a little smile. ( A fake one)

                                                                   (6)

As the lights became dim and theater grew darker a simple expression of excitement with "Yeyyy" came from the seat next to Abir. It was Hia whispering the gripping features of the opening scene from La La Land. And the transitions projected on screen slowly immersed the mind of Abir into it. 

La La Land is not just a mere comedy drama like others but a script from our day to day life with added cinematic creativity.  

The script followed a little part of Abir's life through it. Like the first meeting of Mia-Sebastian at the pool party. Abir and Bristi's first day at college was same, the tricky one. Then the concert, where Sebastian was playing his keyboard and Mia as audience, reminded Abir his first college fest. He was playing his guitar with the suspended strumming on 'A' scale for the song "Tum se hi din hota hai, surmayi shaam aati hai... Tum se hi, tum se hi" from the movie "Jab we met". Bristi as audience was smiling at a corner. Their eyes met and emotions poured in through their smiles.  

As both Mia and Sebastian came into relation, the car scene where Sebastian came to pick up Mia for a date. Abir was pulled back through times when he was used to wait in front of Girls Hostel with his car for Bristi and the Security guards of GH used to reproach him. The film La La Land was so appealing that Abir forgot his monotonous present life for a while. 

The relationship ended as Mia & Sebastian broke their harmony. Bristi got a chance for better life, where as Abir got involved more into making money. A relation started as a simple friendship, found a crack to link two hearts, and poured in the sympathy, closeness and love as the sweetest flavor of the dish. Abir felt, La La Land script was nothing but a simple frame after frame transition from his own life. But the dramatic end was not similar, cause life is not that easy to figure out. Since break up, both Abir and Bristi never met. 

The lights in the theater came into life. Abir saw those dew drops at the corner of her eyes. May be Hia was also moving through those frames as the movie projected on the screen. Holding back his concerns about the tears Abir gave a smile and left his seat. Hia followed and wiped her tears.

                                                                      (7)

Walking by the pavements of newly decorated city Abir was humming with the tunes,

"Some other girl and guy,

 would love this swirling sky. 

But there's only you and I, 

And we've got; no shot...

This could never be ..... hmm hmm hmm"

Loosing the track of lyrics Abir surrendered into mumbling 'Hmm'

"And there's not a spark in sight,

What a, waste of a lovely night"

Rest of the lyrics came as a correction from his companion. 

The day ended with a tune from the movie and both ended their accompany bidding a simple goodbye to each other.

                                                                            (8)

Lost in thoughts, Abir came to his dearest riverside. Glowing lights elated the pavements of the river bank with a delighted hymn. Couples were here and there sitting at the corners and sharing their good times. Crossing them Abir found a suitable corner and securing a platform to seat he lit a cigarette. It was required to breathe out the failures and thinking about a fitting climax. 

Every puff of smoke showed the picture one after another from his life. He was recalling Bristi and then Hia. Two different souls with different life. But the image prolonged in his mind was the shining tear drops and doleful smile of Hia. He spend past 4 hours with her, but was unable to realize her feelings and to console her. While bidding goodnight, the smile Hia drew on her lips surfaced her loneliness in the fight. Abir saw his inability to provide the support she needed the most.

Unmindful to the sky and the landscape, Abir tossed the burning filter nearby. The hissing sound produced by the water and fire caught his attention. The coincidence was so astounding that Abir stood by the tree for a while gazing at the reflection of Howrah bridge. The purple & pink hue from it reflecting on the river produced the same impact of Set organized in the movie he just watched today.

The gleaming stars above the capped portion of city lights, Abir felt the thrill he shared today with Hia at the Space theater. 

The phone call from home breached the bewildered moment of Abir. He was staggered when he saw the time. It was really late. Time flew just like a puff of smoke. Pulling back himself from his thoughts, he came to the pavement. Abir heard himself humming with the lyrics, again from the movie La La Land.....

"City of stars,

Are you shining just for me.

City of stars,

There's so much that I can't see.

Who knew,

Is this the start of something wonderful....

Or one more dream,

That I can not make true....

                                                      ------------ The End ------------

(C) Google Images. For La La Land Movie Images and Howrah bridge at night

Disclaimer:
Names, characters, events and incidents are products of my imagination and drew as a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons or events is completely unintentional and coincidental.