There is a reason why La La Land is a favourite movie for so many people.
Damien Chazelle is a master of his craft, nuancing the very many and varied emotions. But before Chazelle became the youngest filmmaker to receive an Academy Award for Best Director at the age of 32, he was a passionate drummer in high school. Burned out by an abusive and unrelenting teacher (sound familiar?), Chazelle, a talented drummer, decided to forgo music and instead study filmmaking at Harvard University.
Though he pursued Filmmaking, music remained a constant in his work. Chazelle’s debut film, Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench, is a musical romance that explores the loss of love between a trumpeter, Guy, and a woman, Madeline. It is in this debut film that we start to see how Chazelle uses his personal interests and experiences to inform his art. Chazelle, who was raised in both Paris and New Jersey, is inspired by the French New Wave and Golden Age of cinema through Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench as the black and white story unfolds through the language of tap and jazz. Many critics comment that Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench would act as a stylistic and thematic foundation for La La Land.
But before the world could be gifted the work of La La Land, Chazelle would first make the directorial masterpiece that is Whiplash. Though Chazelle had already written a full-length script, short on funding, he instead produced a 20-minute short film. At this point in his career, Chazelle had yet to become the household name that he is today. J.K Simmons, who plays Terence Fletcher (the music teacher) in Whiplash, noted that when he read the “genius script”, it was clear it’d been written “by somebody who clearly understands jazz”. Chazelle ultimately won the Sundance Short Film Jury Prize in 2013, allowing him to finally direct the feature film (The film was shot across 19 days!). Whiplash (2014) became a record-tying 14 Academy award nominated film, winning three Oscars in 2015 – Best Supporting Actor (J.K Simmons), Best Film Editing, and Best Sound Mixing and finally giving Chazelle his deserved recognition. The film is truly haunting and unforgettable. The script is so well performed by the cast that you are undeniably trapped in this world of jazz band players striving to be the next Charlie Parker. The film’s opening scene is one of the greatest of modern cinema and is a must-watch for any cinephile.
Fresh off the success of Whiplash, the world eagerly awaited Chazelle’s next move. Chazelle directs the modern classic La La Land (2017). Drawing from his past experiences, Chazelle’s directorial presence becomes unmistakable. His auteur style shines through signatures shots like the whip pan, emotionally charged colour palletes, and most notably jazz as a central theme. La La Land’s whimsy is incomparable. Fuelled by incredible costume design, catchy songs, and beautiful performances, it is all we could’ve wished for in a modern love story.
Following La La Land, Chazelle began to face poor critic reviews for his most recent film Babylon (2022). Babylon is a story of extreme excess, depravity and decadence in 1920s America. Critics called it a lesson as, like all talented directors, Chazelle needed to “fall on his face to learn”. The main critique of the film was that Chazelle went too far “out there”.
Interestingly, Babylon is the first of Chazelle’s film to break away from his established formula. Unlike his previous works, it lacked the charm and immersive world-building that his fans had grown to love. Instead, this film, outlandish and surreal, create dissonance between what we thought Chazelle would continue to create and what Babylon was.
Chazelle’s ability to represent life is the reason why we find such comfort in his films – they feel real. In La La Land, Sebastian and Mia grapple between the decision of love or career success, in Whiplash, Andrew ultimately realises the truth of balance between happiness and success. These are constant questions we are societally faced with, and Chazelle seeks to give us perspective through his cinematic worlds. They are worlds rich in love, laughter but also pain. Ultimately, his films remind us that, despite the struggles, we always find our way to where we are meant to be.
“Damien Chazelle directing La La Land” by Lionsgate Entertainment is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.