La La Land is if Jacques Demy and Baz Lurhmann did a narrative adaptation of Mike Davis’s "City of Quartz." Los Angeles is playing itself as the dream dump this time. The city is in its costume, sipping dry vermouth in a jazz bar and talking about the girl with the dragon tattoo. If Paris is eros, Los Angeles is anti-eros. Los Angeles is a list of complaints with a monomaniacal optimism sinewing it.
I am fascinated by the idea…