La La Land

The latest from writer/director Damian Chazelle recreates the lost art of the Hollywood musical. The film stars Emma Stone as Mia, a struggling actress and Ryan Gosling as Sebastian, a struggling jazz musician finding love in contemporary Los Angeles. 

The film is colorful and vibrant whenever there is a musical number but does contain a few dull spots between song and dance sequences. Both leads do pull off the difficult singing and dancing adequately and definitely have great chemistry between them. 

Opening with a great musical number on a crowded LA freeway, you settle in for the ups and downs of this young couple over the course of a year and then some. Without giving it away, I found the ending to be the best part of the film as it's very original and extremely satisfying. 

Mr. Chazelle uses Los Angeles as another character in what is a love letter to the city. Mia's struggles at acting auditions, the shallow parties, the Griffith Observatory all become part of the bigger story. It's a fun upbeat musical love story and the kind of film you just don't see anymore so Kudos to Mr. Chazelle for taking the successful risk.