It took me a good 15 minutes to clock into beat of this magical musical's metronome; but once I did, there was no going back.
The last film Damien Chazelle made was Whiplash and he brings that same furious intensity to La La Land, filtering and tempering the tone and the pace with an irresistible love of musicals and Hollywood.
Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone don't just recreate their Crazy Stupid Love, they ramp up the voltage to holy guacamole. They melt the screen and our hearts as young, struggling artists trying to catch a break in that dirty old town of LA.
He's lost in the wrong time and place, his love of jazz a lonesome one.
She's making coffees for movie stars, her dreams shattered on a daily basis at audition after failed audition to become one herself.
The characters, the chemistry, the story, the music, the dance, the romance, the view - it all tapped right into the inner recesses of my fanatical love affair with cinema.
Five stars.
La La Land
:: Director: Damien Chazelle
:: Starring: Emma Stone, Ryan Gosling, Finn Wittrock, J.K. Simmons, Sonoya Mizuno, Rosemarie DeWitt, John Legend
:: Running Time: 129 mins
:: Rating: M - offensive language
:: Release Date: December 26, 2016
Newshub.
