Sagnik Mitra

So near, yet so far. That may become La La Land's lasting legacy, owing to the now-infamous incident at the Academy Awards ceremony. However, this single unfortunate mishap should not tarnish the reputation and future legacy of this phenomenal production. La La Land, at its core, is an ode to the grand-scale musicals of classic Hollywood. There's Ryan Gosling channeling Gene Kelly's streetlight swinging in Singin' In the Rain, Emma Stone and her friends dancing their way to a party in a style not dissimilar to the iconic West Side Story and many, many more such references(not to mention director Damien Chazelle's obvious love for Rebel Without a Cause). But managing to squeeze in homages to classic musicals left, right and centre is not Chazelle's sole contribution to the movie. It is under his expert stewardship that the movie finds its feet and manages to avoid the mire of sappiness which most movie musicals fall into nowadays. The direction, choreography, and story are all magnificent. The chemistry between the two lead actors is smoldering which helps to make their improbable meet-cute and subsequent falling in love feel organic and plausible. The score for the movie is brilliantly crafted and is easily one of the best of the past decade, as is the final scene of the movie which, in yet another moment of paying homage to West Side Story, does not give us the happy ending people have come to expect from most traditional Hollywood musicals. Instead, in a heart-wrenching final few minutes, both character arcs are brought to their inevitable conclusion. The movie closes on a bittersweet final shot of Gosling's character nodding to Stone's, who smiles back before leaving. Indeed,due to the mix-up at the Oscars ceremony, the legacy of the film is likely to be a bittersweet one too which, unbeknownst to the director at the time of writing it, makes the ending all the more poignant. This striking musical will surely go down as a modern classic, and rightfully so.

A modern classic of the sci-fi genre, Villeneuve subverts expectations at every stage and turns a theme fundamental to human existence into something even deeper. A story which at first glance appears to be an innocuous tale of aliens arriving on Earth as they have in so many works of entertainment before molds into a tale about the long-overdue 'arrival' of empathy and transparency in communication within the people directly involved in the events of the movie.The nuance with which aliens are portrayed as a peaceful people is largely unheard of. Amy Adams steals the show in the acting department, giving a layered, intellectual and deeply emotional performance, while Jeremy Renner, Forest Whitaker and the heptapods play second fiddle admirably. Overall, this film is an absolute masterclass in how to narrate a story that becomes much more than just the sum of its parts. The only thing holding it back is its sagging musical score, but that can in no way take away from this magical work of cinema. Arrival is one of the greatest works of cinema of the 21st century so far.