Review of La La Land (2016) by Johnny T — 29 May 2018

La La Land breathes new life into a bygone genre with thrillingly assured direction, powerful performances, and an irresistible excess of heart. Audacious, retro, funny and heartfelt, La La Land is the latest great musical for people who don't like musicals - and will slap a mile-wide smile across the most miserable of faces. Utterly magnificent and intoxicating. Chazelle's script is hopeful and sweet and clever and rich. His direction is innovative and captivating. Gosling is terrific as the coolly introspective yet disarmingly charming Sebastian. And Stone is deservedly generating Oscar buzz for her portrayal of an artist who can't quite believe she'll ever be anything other than a barista. The fact that neither Stone nor Gosling are tip-top song-and-dance artists is, in some ways, integral to their appeal. If they were Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire, we might not feel as much of a kinship with them. It's a beautiful and hopeful film, coming at a time when there isn't much beauty or hope in our movies, and it's the type of picture - a sprawling, exuberant musical drama - that hasn't been seen in decades. Damien Chazelle's musical, consistently daring and occasionally sublime, does what the movies have all but forgotten how to do - sweep us up into a dream of love that's enhanced in an urgent present by the mythic power of Hollywood's past.

VERDICT: "Instant Classic" - [Positively Acclaimed Reaction] Usually I give this rating to a movie that I believe is absolutely outstanding and has little to no flaws in it. Audiences, who haven't seen this film, must see it right now! (Films that are rated 4.5 or 5 stars).