Be careful what you wish for

Rating: 10/10 (26 February 2019)

Written and directed by Damian Chazelle, La La Land charts the dreams of the stage struck Mia(Emma Stone) and Sebastian (Ryan Gosling) as the struggle to establish themselves in Tinsel Town. Unlikely lovers whose paths cross accidentally; we follow them from the aspirational bottom of their respected heaps as an aspiring film actress who is frequently auditioned but never gets the part and a gifted improvisational jazz pianist who is playing Christmas Carols in a basement bar and finding impossible to stick to the set list of standard merry festive songs.
The film opens with an impromptu song and dance number that erupts, naturally enough, from a traffic jam on the El Camino Real and sets the whole tone of the film.
As the two become closer emotionally, they share their dreams for the future with one another giving each other the confidence and encouragement they both need to take the risks they need to take and to weather the storms when their dreams don't materialise at the first try.
Torn apart geographically, despite their separate financial success, they nevertheless continue to support each other's dreams and refuse to give up.
It's a great film that leads them up into the air (on wires) as their love blossoms and the celluloid of a classic film snaps. It even has the clichÃ© of health and wealth but no happiness as there is a bitter sweet ending in Seb's Jazz club that Mia blunders into by accident with her husband.
Just a great, well-crafted, musically seamless film where the music-struck and stage-struck very nearly get to live out their dreams together, but not quite.