Overspilling with artistic originality, class and wit, "La La Land" promises to be one of the greatest films of this generation

Rating: 10/10 (17 January 2017)

"La La Land" is utterly wonderful; a remarkable blend of romantic idealism with the harshness of reality, Damien Chazelle illustrates the Los Angeles setting delightfully, capturing the everyday difficulties of life within love and the external challenges it entails with sharp confidence yet absolute serenity. Exploding with beautiful visual contrasts, expertly demonstrating the director's vision of the romanticised average dreamer's lifestyle, "La La Land" emerges as undeniably one of the defining movies of the decade, if not the century. And if not that, the new pinnacle of both the romantic and musical genres alike.
All singing, all dancing, "La La Land" boasts some of the best choreographed dance scenes in popular culture of recent memory, and huge credit is deserved to choreographer Mandy Moore who has managed to orchestrate multiple intensely exhilarating movements that so beautifully complement Chazelle's chosen one-shot style. Collectively, the filmmakers have successfully managed to transport the viewers right back to the classic ages of Hollywood: to the era of musicals, playing with nostalgia so respectfully as head cinematographer Linus Sandgren provides us with shots of such magnificence, it truly is a modern art film of unprecedented prosperity.
The film contains a glorious soundtrack, written by Chazelle's Harvard University friend Justin Hurwitz, who manages to grasp the fantastical nature of the film excellently. The songs remain resonant after the credits have rolled, each of them classics in the making, which is exactly what one would hope for in a fresh new musical.
Everything in this movie conjugates to form this masterful outcome with extraordinary spontaneity; nothing ever feels rushed or forced as each scene flows from one to the next naturally, driven by the dynamic character force and chemistry between lead actors Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling. Stone shines the brightest, proudly demonstrating her ability to perform, sing and dance throughout, thus completely nailing each scene she is in. She feels perfectly fitted for this part, handpicked by Chazelle after he saw her in "Cabaret". Their respective commitment to these roles is also highly commendable, Gosling went through intensive training and learned jazz piano in just three months, and listening to the outcome, it is rather difficult to believe judging by how eloquently he plays. Both look like they are enjoying themselves immensely, dancing and singing with such fluency and passion, which reflects onto the screen sensationally.
And that is ultimately what makes this film so great: it's the dedication of the people involved to making something that one can simply enjoy and appreciate in its own right. It is easy to see that Chazelle has been dreaming of doing this project all his life, and the product of his fantasies is an outstanding spectacle of pure joy; a genuine heartfelt translation of stage onto screen done with such admirable grace, it has certainly earned every shred of praise it gets, and much, much more.