Love letter to musicals; Stone & Gosling make for a poignant DynamicDuo

Rating: 9/10 (16 January 2017)

LA LA LAND (2016) ***1/2 Ryan Gosling, Emma Stone, Rosemarie DeWitt, John Legend, JK Simmons, Tom Everett Scott. Candy colored valentine to musicals of yore with contemporary know-how thanks to filmmaker Damien Chazelle blending say a Gene Kelly love story with Busby Berkeley meets Joe Kidd choreography set in modern day LA in a star-crossed romance between a somewhat miserable yet talented jazz pianist and a wanna-be actress (Gosling and Stone make a sweet dynamic duo) who fall in love amidst the dreams and their dream-like fantasia interludes. Fun, heartfelt, surprisingly poignant and altogether wonderful. Clear-eyed cinematography by Linus Sandgren, splendid production design by David Wasco and the song "City of Stars" will hit you like a meteor.