An ol' fashioned Hollywood musical for the 21st century

Rating: 9/10 (30 December 2016)

"La La Land" (2016 release; 128 min.) brings the story of Mia and Sebastian. As the movie opens, there is gridlock on the freeway and for no apparent reason we get the first song-and-dance by the ensemble cast, brought in a single take lasting several minutes, and ending with Sebastian and Mia having a mini-road rage moment. It's not long before we see Mia, a barista dreaming of becoming an actress, failing one audition after another. Meanwhile Seb is an ol' school jazz pianist. When he refuses to stick to the Christmas music set list at the club where he works, and instead goes on a dazzling improvisation, he is promptly fired. Mia happens to be walking by, hears the piano improvisation, and goes inside the club... At this point we're 15 min. into the movie but to tell you more would spoil your viewing experience, you'll just have to see for yourself how it all plays out.
Couple of comments: this is the latest film from writer-director Damien Chazelle, who last year came out of nowhere with is impressive debut film "Whiplash". For his sophomore release, Chazelle sticks to the music world, but this time in an all-around ol' fashioned Hollywood musical. When the movie's opening titles announce "Presented in CinemaScope", you know this is going to be "just like the good ol' days", and that certainly turns out to be the case. The musical numbers are simply outstanding, and just as important, move the film's story line forward. The movie benefits enormously from the obvious chemistry between the two leads, Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling. While the movie's overall story arc is quite familiar, you simply enjoy the scenes for what they bring. John Legend brings an important secondary performance as Keith, the leader of a jazz/R&B band called The Messengers. At one point Seb and Keith debate how 'authentic' the jazz sound of the Messengers should be. Keith observes: "You're holding on to the past, but jazz is all about the future!". Speaking of the musical score: if you are not into music, by all means do yourself a favor and find another movie to see, because in the end the music is the heart and soul of the film. As was the case for "Whiplash", the music is courtesy of relative newcomer Justin Hurwitz (Harvard classmate of Chazelle, I read the other day). Heavy on jazz, but with plenty of pure orchestral moments as well, the core is nothing short of brilliant.
"La La Land" is one of the year's most anticipated releases for me (as I absolutely loved "Whiplash"). Due to various year-end scheduling conflicts and commitments, I just now had a chance to see it. The matinée screening where I saw this at was attended very nicely. Much to my surprise I noticed a number of young (6-7-8 yr. old) kids in the audience. I would've loved to ask them afterwards what they thought of this movie. I loved the movie, period, and will end up high on my year-end list of best movies of 2016. "La La Land" is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!