La La Land

The main characters in this Los Angeles romantic musical are Mia (Emma Stone), a coffee-shop employee with dreams of being an actress; and Sebastian (Ryan Gosling), a jazz pianist who aspires to open his own club that plays jazz like it was played in the good old days.

At long last: a movie released during the 2016 awards season that actually lives up to the hype!

Early in the film, there are two superb group musical numbers. The numbers that follow are more low-key relating only to the main characters but they are still well performed and executed.

The stories of career struggle within the broader narrative are very believable. They include the hell of auditioning to people who are too busy plus the desire to maintain the purity of a great music genre (jazz) while too often being told it is "a dying art".

Gosling takes a while to break into the role particularly where the singing is concerned but it's not long before he fits into the part quite nicely. Stone is superb throughout the film. She is even spot-on as an actress giving mediocre auditions. She's given a full range - and not just as a triple threat - and she fully lives up to the expectations especially during the song "Audition" near the end.

There is something uniquely enjoyable about Hollywood portraying itself. The movie also gives nods to great classic musicals like "Singin' in the Rain", "Les Demoiselles de Rochefort", and "Les Parapluies de Cherbourg" all the while being unique and standing out on its own. In addition, the set designs and photography add further to the film's greatness.

The reference to "Les Parapluies de Cherbourg" comes through strongly in the movie's final number. This scene is probably the best scene of any movie in 2016. It leaves one with so many mixed emotions and extreme on either side. The production number is magnificent while its mood is melancholy.

The teaming of director/writer Damien Chazelle with musical composer Justin Hurwitz is one of the best matches since Jacques Demy and Michel Legrand in the 1960s. - dbamateurcritic

OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENTS:

1) Directing by Damien Chazelle

2) Acting by Emma Stone

3) Music by Justin Hurwitz

A nostalgic, joyful, and oh-so realistic portrayal of chasing your dreams and living in the "la la land" that is Los Angeles, "La La Land" is a different kind of masterpiece, as it pays tribute to the musical films of the 40s and 50s, the Astaire and Rogers, MGM kind of musicals, while also bringing something new to the genre, specifically the modern and original elements.

Damien Chazelle was already a promising newcomer when he made 2014's "Whiplash", also an Oscar-winning film. "La La Land", however, sets the record straight that this young writer-director is a true talent and possibly one of the greatest of our time. One of the most important elements within Chazelle's script and directing is, in one word, passion. Pure passion for cinema is what it takes to make a great film, and Chazelle sure does know that.

Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone sparkle as the film's leading stars on screen, like Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall and Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn once did in the golden age. In the film, Stone and Gosling's characters share the same goal: to make their dreams in both acting and jazz, respectively, come true. What comes out when you put these two acting talents together in a film is pure enjoyment and an onscreen chemistry that seems impossible to break.

Overall, "La La Land" is one hell of a film to watch, as it may go down in cinematic history as one of the finest films made.

Any chance I could give this 11/10, or a few more oscars, just for being so oscary... such a splendidly heart warming experience

The last time, I felt like this, in a cinema, I was six years old and I was watching Star Wars. I never imagined, I would ever find that feeling again in a cinema. That sense of being transported to another world.

The opening sequence took my breath away and I never got it back. Not even at the end - which left my head spinning. It is a beautiful film with soul, wit, charm, style and love. It is simply outrageous! Bold and fantastic and fantastical.

I am a straight man but my love for Ryan Gosling could change all that. He's a melancholy genius and Emma Stone is our muse.

This film defies genre. It is a masterpiece. I urge you to see it. I was lucky enough to see it at the BFI London Film Festvial.

It has been five days since I saw La La Land and I am still thinking about it and singing the haunting refrain that plays with your soul. I mean it gets in there - that music - the music of the firmament. Flying still, dreaming still... thank you Damien.

I remember when I saw the trailers for this movie, I thought it would be a sad but sweet love story and nothing more. And while it is that it brings so much more flare and beauty that I would never have expected from this. It took me three years to see it and it far out shone any expectation I had.