la la ...whoops

As I had told Christina Ann last week, I truly love this movie.
"La La Land" has bright colors,
lots of dancing, a romantic tale, beautiful cinematography,
and it's a musical -
a visual and aural treat!
Plus, the ending is perfect...
but I'm getting ahead of myself.

Here's what I mean about color!
The four roommates have gotten dolled up for a party, where "Someone In The Crowd" might give them the acting break they need.
No luck in that department for Mia.
Then, she found her car had been towed, so, as she was walking home, she heard the song wafting from a restaurant door...
and it's the guy who had honked in rage earlier, flipping her off as he drove away.

Lo and behold, he's the pianist, playing that song, the magic that had lured her in.
She tries to compliment him on the tune, but he's just been fired, so off he storms, running off again.
So, two missed connections.
The third time, though, at another springtime party, was the charm.
He's playing the keyboard for an '80's cover band, so, to tease him, she requests "I Ran".

There's a bit of back and forth between them at the party, eventually leading to her "George Michael" comment and him walking her to her car...
with the city like a fairyland on "A Lovely Night" as they crest a hill...
leading to them dancing together beneath the stars in the sky and above the stars of the city lights.

So, of course, he shows up at the coffee shop where she works...
and they walk and talk once more, she sharing her love of acting with him, he sharing his love of playing jazz music with her...
and he asks her to a classic James Dean movie...
and she blows off a boring dinner with a male friend...
and they end up at a site from the movie, Griffith Observatory,
dancing amongst the stars...
and having their first kiss.

Their romance was off and running from that point on...
until he overhears a conversation between her and her mom about him and his finances...
so he takes a well-paying job with a touring group that he really doesn't want...
and she keeps going on failed auditions, again and again...
as their romance gets lost in long distance and long bouts of absence and misplaced priorities and missed connections...
and she gets offered a job in Paris, but he has touring responsibilities...
and the fire of their romance dies out just as her career finally gets into gear.

I didn't get to see all of that, though.
After having looked forward to this movie for the last two weeks, after carefully planning today around being in front of this screen at 9 PM with no distractions...
my internet connection was lost shortly after he got that well-paying job.
Just as she was hearing him sing "City Of Stars" for the first time with her, the screen froze.
I mean, just froze, with her listening raptly from the doorway.
I thought it was a buffering issue with the network.
No.
Damn.
My internet chose that moment to crash.
Repeated attempts to resurrect it were for naught, as time ticked forward.
Finally, I was able to gain the infinity wifi...
tuning back in to the live-streaming event for its final scenes...
Damn.
Still, if I had to miss part of the movie, then those scenes I'd missed were certainly the ones that were most easily done without, for someone like me.
After all, I'd seen the movie several times at the cinema.
I know the plot and each scene and their story.
As long as I still was able to see the ending, in its complete form, I was golden...
and I had not missed one single second of that.
i thank You, God.

So, here's how that scene begins.
Now a famous actress, Mia and her husband are off to see friends in the city, leaving their child with a sitter.
Traffic in Los Angeles is at a standstill, so they change their plans and take the first exit...
looking to maybe find a new place and have a quiet dinner together...
but opting to check out the live jazz wafting through an open doorway...
that turns out to be Seb's, with a musical note for the apostrophe...
a logo she had designed years ago for her boyfriend, the pianist...
who then comes onstage and spots her in the crowd.

Taking the piano bench, he pauses for a moment, then begins to play the song, the one that had first drawn her to him...
and as he plays, images from their life together flash, like in a favorite home movie...
only, these are the images of how it should have been, starting with him kissing her that first moment, when she had complimented him on the song he was playing...

and continuing on, giving key scenes of him showing support as she pitched her solo play idea...
and there he was, in the audience on that opening night, applauding, as the crowd went wild...
and there he was, flying across the ocean and going with her to France for her big job...
dancing together by the Seine, dancing together through their loving life...

and then there were scenes from their wedding, moments that led to now, with he and she as the couple out for the evening, with their child at home...
then, the song is over.
She and her husband get up to leave, but she pauses at the door...
and Sebastian looks up from the piano, toward her...
and he smiles, knowing she understood his apology for missed connections...
and she smiles, forgiving him for those lost chances...
both knowing they now have the lives they wanted...
the lives they could not have given in the real past.

I just realized something: this musical has time travel as a component.
No wonder I love it so.
I am so blessed to have been able to see it again.

i thank You, God.