La La Land (2016): Choosing One Possibility Means Losing Another - Los Angeles - 1

If you've seen movies in America, you'll hear people say that La La Land is not just a simple romance film about young people.

I remember thinking it was just a musical when I first watched it, but I was left in a daze afterward.

This film is much more focused on how it portrays the city than on the story itself.

Director Damien Chazelle didn't just set the story in LA; he elevated the city itself to a character.

As we follow the relationship between Sebastian and Mia, we come to realize that what they loved was not each other, but rather "possibility."

This is LA. It seems to love people, but in reality, it's a city that loves dreams.

So, while the movie starts off like a sweet romance, it becomes more bittersweet as it progresses.

In this film, the locations are not just backdrops. The scene at Griffith Observatory has already become legendary.

Two people who would never move like that in reality dance there, defying gravity. This scene visually represents "the moment when dreams overwhelm reality." And that is the essence of the city of LA. It's a city that makes you feel like impossible things can happen.

The opening scene where people suddenly dance on the Los Angeles 110 Freeway is similar.

Anyone who has lived in LA knows the emotions felt on that road: frustration, fatigue, and helplessness. But the film transforms that into music.

It doesn't cover reality with fantasy; it layers fantasy on top of reality. That's what makes it more convincing.

La La Land (2016): Choosing One Possibility Means Losing Another - Los Angeles - 2

Places like Echo Park Lake and Angels Flight are not just "pretty spots"; they are spaces infused with the characters' emotions.

Especially the Angels Flight scene, though brief, is intense. The movement of going up and down encapsulates the relationship between the two characters.

We can't talk about the music without mentioning it. Justin Hurwitz's 'City of Stars' is not just an OST.

It's a song that encapsulates the entire emotional tone of the film. Listening to it leaves you with a confusing mix of hope and resignation. That's exactly the emotion this film conveys.

And the last 10 minutes. Honestly, from a film lover's perspective, this is "cheating." The imagined sequence that unfolds like a parallel universe completely breaks the audience down.

What if they had made different choices? This one question keeps the audience engaged until the end.

But the more brutal part is that it ultimately returns to reality. The dream was achieved, but not together.

That's why this film is well-made. It's beautiful even without a happy ending.

We often call what we gain success, but we don't account for what we lose in the process.

However, the act of choosing inherently involves exclusion. The moment you choose one possibility, all others disappear.

So even after achievement, there's a lingering feeling of emptiness. It's not failure; it's the moment of recognizing the cost of choice.

Especially in a space like Los Angeles, overflowing with possibilities, this becomes more pronounced. The wider the range of choices, the more you have to give up.

Ultimately, this film seems to tell a love story, but it's more of a record of how humans make decisions about their lives and accept the consequences.

So the emotion that La La Land leaves you with is not just simple regret, but a question about existence.

The reason I feel strange when I go up to Griffith Observatory and see the night view... I think it might be because of this movie.