A Lovely Night

"A Lovely Night," performed by Ryan Gosling in the movie "La La Land," is a song briming with irony and bittersweet sentiment. Set against the backdrop of a fading sunset and a picturesque view, the song juxtaposes the romantic setting with the decidedly unromantic feelings between the characters.

The opening lines describe the beauty of the evening and the silver shne of the sea, hinting at a perfect setting for romance. However, the mood shifts as the lyrics reveal that the two characters, despite being in this ideal romantic setting, do not feel any romantic connection with each other.

The song continues with playful banter, each character asserting that the other is not their type. There's an undercurrent of sarcasm and gentle teasing, as they critique each other’s appearance and attitudes. Despite the undeniable charm of the setting and the moment, they both agree that there's no spark of romantic interest between them.

The lyrics, “What a waste of a lovely night,” encapsulate the essence of the song. It's a lamentation of sorts, acknowledging that under different circumstances, such a night could have been the backdrop for a blossoming romance. Yet, for them, it remains just a beautiful night with no deeper emotional connection.

The song cleverly uses the romantic cliches of a perfect setting to underscore the lack of romantic chemistry between the characters. It's a commentary on the unpredictability of love and attraction, where even the most perfect setting cannot ignite feelings that simply aren't there. The song captures a moment of shared understanding and connection, albeit one that is platonic rather than romantic.

Before we heard the Ryan Gosling's sound of voice in this movie about love, we could easily think it was Frank Sinatra, not Ryan. The same goes to Emma Stone – she sounds like someone else, for example, Katy Perry maybe. What is especially lovely about this song is that it goes as a conversation in the middle of the night – it has a hint of esprit and the dialogues are easy and witty-minded.
It is hard to conquer all the opinions that have already been said about this movie – soaring, gorgeous, romantic, magnificent, incredible, glorious, and magical – that the top critics called this movie. If to be totally frankly, this actually all goes to this song. Maybe this is not that delightful as the opening credits that are signed by the team of the actors, but it is absolutely easy and it turns us back to the Golden Era of the musicals. It is no wonder that it is heavily praised and there is no criticism of its performance. We totally agree with the opinion of outstanding actor Tom Hanks who said that this film is original and it is totally brand new it is unimaginable perfection and this musical was absolutely well done and performed with all brand new songs that nobody knows but everyone already admires.
The essence of this song boils down to the conversation of two people performed by Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone. She says she has no feelings towards him while he disagrees with this fact. She also pricks him that for example his suit is made of polyester, while he contradicts her saying this is wool. It all contributes to the picture of nice ease and truly magical mood that is created by the performance of these two actors.
A guy has romantic feelings toward the girl but she concludes that it is may be nothing or even less than nothing. He disagrees and asks whether what she says is true. She replied to him that it is and it is a total waste of such a charming night (being with him). He has a nice attractive sadness in his voice, while she is totally cheered up.
There is an opinion that Justin Hurwitz, the composer, has made the outstanding and fabulous music just to collect as much as seven Golden Globe nominations and head towards the Academy Awards, which will be performed in this February. For this purpose, he has written all songs powerful, including this one. It is an extremely invigorating piece. For the sake of promotion of this movie, it is even a hint of some kind of love story between Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling. It is hard to believe that such a love story actually evolves in the real life; it is rather the reference to what has been going on in this motion picture between actors. It is a fine musical movie which is loved by everyone who saw it and we are actually wondering why it was opened in the limited number of theaters, not in wide release.
It was not so very challenging for Justin Hurwitz to create the entire songs for a movie but it was definitely challenging to come up with the overall idea of how the soundtrack should be like. The emotions that transfer us to the Golden Era of musicals are clearly and distinctively heard in this particular song and absolutely in every song from this musical. The composer also liked the performance of Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone and says that there are a few actors who would perform better than them two in a story as such.
What is interesting about this movie is that every song has been written especially for it, being created from the scratch. It is absolutely rare in our times. To make such a conclusion it is only effective enough to compare this movie with the incredibly loud movie of previous years starring Evan McGregor and Nicole Kidman called Moulin Rouge. In the latter, no song was a brand new – every piece has already been performed by someone before and now they all were covered by this or that performer. Especially the one that was powerfully sung by Evan McGregor's theatrical partner, the leader of the group of dancers, who performed Roxanne – this fantastic tango has been an exclusive cover of the song by Sting. And if we already started to compare this to fantastic Moulin Rouge, it must be said that La La Land has absolutely different energy than M. R. – LLL is very lightweight and not serious. While M. R. is a story about sadness, deception, and outstanding love. LLL is also about love but it is polar different.

Sources:

‘La La Land’ Composer on How Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone Influenced the Award-Winning Music - Read on ET, 'La La Land' Review: Magical Modern-Day Musical Will Sweep You Off Your Feet - Rolling Stone