'La La Land' finds critical acclaim, box office success with new tunes
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Molly Driscoll Staff writer
Musicals becoming critical and box office hits is nothing new over the past several years, but the film 鈥淟a La Land鈥� is doing it with original tunes.听
鈥淟a鈥� stars Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone as a piano player and aspiring actress, respectively, who begin a romance in Los Angeles. The movie, now in theaters, has been nominated for seven Golden Globe awards, including for best comedy or musical, while Mr. Gosling and Ms. Stone have been nominated for acting prizes including Golden Globes and Screen Actors Guild Awards for their work in the film.
The music in the movie was composed by Justin Hurwitz and the lyrics were co-written by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul.听
Musicals in recent years have received critical acclaim and become box office successes. The 2014 film "Into the Woods," for example, became a financial hit and brought actress Meryl Streep an Oscar nomination for best supporting actress. 2012鈥檚 鈥淟es Miserables鈥� not only did well at the box office but received a best picture Oscar nomination. Actress Anne Hathaway won the best supporting actress Oscar for her role as Fantine.听
But 鈥淟a鈥� is doing it with songs that are new to the audience.
As 海角大神's听film critic Peter Rainer writes, the movie makes viewers yearn for the days of creative and fresh movie musicals, when films routinely debuted new songs. For example, the 1935 Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire film 鈥淭op Hat鈥� featured several original songs, including 听
鈥淒amien Chazelle鈥檚 entrancing fantasia starring Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling makes you hope that maybe Hollywood will again make the kinds of musicals that once enraptured us,鈥� Mr. Rainer wrote when selecting 鈥淟a鈥� as the second-best movie to be released this year.
