Maybe I’ll Become A Jazz Dancer

Have you heard the soundtrack from “Lalaland?” I’m just completely and utterly in love with it.  I saw the movie over the holidays and downloaded the soundtrack that same night. Since then, I’ve listened to it about eleven bajillion times and it just grows and grows on me.

It’s a mix of jazz, classical and old Hollywood standard soundtracks all mixed into one. There’s a hint of French flavor in some of the more classical pieces and of course the French love their jazz as well, so there’s definitely a Parisian vibe even though the movie is set in LA.

The movie is sweet although not my favorite of the year, but oh the music. And the dancing. And Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling who turn out to be pretty good singers.

In a snapshot: She’s a struggling actress, he’s a struggling jazz pianist who meet cute and hate each other until it turns into love like all good Hollywood romances. And they dance and sing throughout. It’s all lovely and inconsequential except…..the music. And the dancing. And Ryan Gosling.

I’ve taken to playing it when I go on walks, when I’m cooking, when I’m cleaning, when I’m showering. And each time I hear it, I fall more madly in love.

It doesn’t hurt to have the lovely, simple, lilting story from the movie echoing in the back ground of my mind while listening to it. On walks, I cry when a song references the sad moments of the movie. In the morning when I listen to it as I’m making breakfast, I yearn to break out and dance around my kitchen like a jazz dancer, flinging my arms around in the air with abandon, and once the husband and kids are back to work/school, I will do just that.

And don’t get me started on that Ryan Gosling. Yum.  Hope you get a chance to see the movie. And after you do, download the soundtrack.

Here’s my favorite, the Epilogue and the haunting “City of Stars” which is the theme running through many of the songs. It’s just beautiful to me. I can’t get enough of it.