Wonderful, exquisite, fascinating, heartbreaking and definitely a masterpiece. Winner of over 30 awards including five Academy Awards and six Golden Globes; La La Land. The musical was released in December of 2016 and grossed 397 million dollars worldwide and was regarded to as one of the best films of 2016. Teaming up for their third film together, the all-star duo Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling brought their chemistry to the big screen once again. The film title “La La Land,” refers to Los Angeles and Hollywood, California lifestyles and attitude of those living there and associated with.

This modern day musical is directed by Academy Award winner, Damien Chazelle. Critics praised the work of Chazelle’s screenplay and direction, Gosling and Stone’s performances, Justin Hurwitz’s score and the musical numbers.

The story follows the romance and dreams of an aspiring actress, Mia and Sebastian, a jazz pianist. They hope to make their dreams come true in the the city that is known for crushing dreams. Stuck in Los Angeles traffic, Mia and Sebastian have a moment of road rage, while Mia is on her way to her next audition and Sebastian is headed to his next gig. After the poor audition, Mia is taken out by her friends to a luxurious party. While walking home, she hears music spilling out of a restaurant and is compelled to go inside. Upon entering she encounters Sebastian once again, who has been warned several times to stay within the given set list, but disregards this and slips into a passionate jazz number. Mia is impressed and approaches Sebastian, but his recent actions has led him to be fired and he pushes past her.

Mia and Sebastian continuously bump into each other throughout the city. Months later, Mia runs into Sebastian at a party where he is playing in a 1980’s pop cover band. While walking to their cars after the small concert, they connected for the first time during the performance of “A Lovely Night” where they prove their vocals merge perfectly together. The choreography is entwined with the musical score to make a dazzling experience.

From there, Mia shows Sebastian around the movie lot where she works and serves coffee in between auditions and explains her love for acting. Sebastian brings her to a jazz club where he describes his passion for jazz and dream of opening his own jazz club. Sebastian asks Mia to go see a film and she accepts, where they finish the night off with more astonishing dance numbers and enchanting songs.

Mia continues to fail auditions, so she ends up taking Sebastian’s advice to write a one woman play. Sebastian is offered a job from his former classmate, Keith, in a pop jazz band, Mia sees he is unhappy in the band and confronts him on abandoning his dreams.
It all comes down to having a once in a lifetime love or making it into the spotlight.