7. La La Land Best Original Score
La La Land is the hotly anticipated directorial follow up to 2014's Whiplash, and it couldn't be more different in tone. La La Land is a musical comedy-drama starring Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone (but notably keeping Best Supporting Actor recipient J.K. Simmons on-board). The script was written before the release of Whiplash, meaning it won't have been influenced by the pressure to recapture that movie's success. As well, vastly different territory should allow director Damien Chazelle to channel his talent in other ways. It's clear Chazelle has a masterful handle on depicting relationships, so seeing this manifest as a love story is sure to be very interesting Adding to that, the music is being written by Justin Hurwitz, who composed the brilliant, frequently intense yet often subtle score to Whiplash. How Hurwitz might handle something much more upbeat is a mystery, but it's often through limitation that musicians write their finest work. The score for La La Land is surely one to look forward to.
Brian Wilson
Contributor
Commonly found reading, sitting firmly in a seat at the cinema (bottle of water and a Freddo bar, please) or listening to the Mountain Goats.
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