La La Land- “What If”

What if. 

This has been my favourite phrase for as long as I can remember. With everything that happens, the trail that leads to “what if” always stirs a doubt in my head. It’s good to know I’m not the only one who wonders “what if…”.

La La Land is a movie of dreamers and for dreamers. When I watched the trailer the first time, I knew then that I wouldn’t miss this movie- mostly because it had my favourite, Ryan Gosling in it. And anything that Ryan Gosling does- can’t be bad. I mean come on, I watched that horribly violent movie, “Drive” for his sake. He looked so cute in that horrible violent movie. SOO- I couldn’t have missed this.

Anywhoo, after a month of the movie’s release, I found myself standing outside the cinemas, with my bottle of sparkling water and a big bucket of popcorn.

A musical- La La Land is a definite see. Especially, if you love Ryan Gosling, Emma Stone, Jazz, LA and just old school retro romance.

My favourite part was when they are sitting in the cinema- their romance just beginning- and they’re slowly trying to touch each other’s hands. It was so cute and reminded me of how love and romance starts in most relationships- in the cinema, holding hands in the dark and grinning like fools. Although, not many first kisses get interrupted by a burning film roll.

If you don’t want jumbled and confusing spoilers- do not read ahead.

It doesn’t have your regular happy ending- it doesn’t end with Mia and Sebastian together. But, it isn’t sad. I’m not going to explain the plot of the movie- because I am going to press on the point where I’d rather you watch the movie than just read about it.

It’s about regular people, who meet, fall in love, and move away- metaphorically and literally. But, years later, when they see each other again- what if haunts them. That haunting might have been only the last 5 minutes of the movie, but it was enough to make me watch it all over again.

I might be the only person, but the idea of haunting what ifs is quite poetic to me. To me, this movie ended on that note. It made me wonder, why do we spend so much time pondering over what if when we could have done that in the first place. Is it always too late to do anything? Or is it relative to what is being discussed?

With the girlfriends dancing in sync in the beginning (where did they go in latter half- is still a mystery!).

Or the running in giddy realization- and hoping it’s not too late.

And it’s not too late…

Or the first kiss all over again…

Oh wait- did I tell you there’s John Legend in it? John Legend singing and acting?

For the first time, even without the happy ending, I walked out of the theatre with the biggest smile on my face- it could have something to do with Ryan Gosling- or just to do with a really good movie.

Okay, watch the trailer again here: La La Land Trailer

Gossip Girl and The Holiday: Two for the cheer

It’s been a weird week. Long, weird, hard, messy week. I’ve been trying to take my mind off things and into more writing and productivity and watching a lot of movies and chick flicks and reading.

Here are the two favourites that made me smile, or I could relate to, or just nice to hear when you’re literally in the middle of a storm.

Iris (The Holiday)

This is the perfect reminder of how our definitions of “love”might not be what actually suits us. While, the Cameron Diaz/Jude Law adventures cracked me up, Kate Winslot’s piercing words made me think. My favourite being the below:

“I understand feeling as small and as insignificant as humanly possible. And how it can actually ache in places you didn’t know you had inside you. And it doesn’t matter how many new haircuts you get, or gyms you join, or how many glasses of chardonnay you drink with your girlfriends… you still go to bed every night going over every detail and wonder what you did wrong or how you could have misunderstood. And how in the hell for that brief moment you could think that you were that happy. And sometimes you can even convince yourself that he’ll see the light and show up at your door. And after all that, however long all that may be, you’ll go somewhere new. And you’ll meet people who make you feel worthwhile again. And little pieces of your soul will finally come back. And all that fuzzy stuff, those years of your life that you wasted, that will eventually begin to fade.”

Blair Waldorf (Gossip Girl)

I don’t know how she isn’t the first person mentioned in the post- because Gossip Girl is literally my favourite show. I’ve watched it religiously and felt all the love, disgust, anger, heartbreak, and perhaps some sassiness along with Blair (and often Chuck, Nate or Serena).

“Once men have tasted caviar, it baffles me how they settle for catfish.”

“The thing about new beginnings is- that they recquire something else to end.”

“I followed my heart all last year and it led me nowhere.Now, I need to follow my head.”