*SPOILERS*

La La Land is the nostalgic story of Sebastian (Ryan Gosling), a pianist trying to keep traditional jazz alive, and Mia (Emma Stone), an aspiring actress, as they fall in love and struggle to follow their dreams in modern day Los Angeles.

The film starts with an astonishing scene featuring 100 dancers performing a routine in the middle of LA, as traffic grinds to a halt, drivers open their doors and start spinning, cartwheeling and jumping over cars. I thoroughly enjoyed this film, mainly due to the incredible and original music, like in this first scene, which added to the tone and atmosphere of the film. Moreover, the cinematography was stunning, whether capturing a sunset or simple street scene, there were numerous moments that looked and felt iconic, along with small details such as the shaky camera during the argument scene which created tension and suspense among the audience.

Damien Chazelle (director) initially started with £800,000 (later upped to £25 million) to create La La Land – an idea he and a classmate had in their senior year at Harvard University. He wrong the screenplay in 2010 and his classmate, Justin Hurwitz, composed six original songs for the film.

At first, Emma Watson and Miles Teller were originally cast for the main roles, however, Emma Watson had to drop out to focus on Beauty and the Beast and Miles Teller for an alleged financial dispute.

This film explores different themes such as LA - the bright colours and extravagant parties highlight the LA theme that most people dream about, and live in. Furthermore, the theme of love is explored through Mia and Sebastian's relationship as well as small details, like picking up each others mannerisms and also ending up 'loving jazz' due to the other person. Another key theme in this film is music as the movie is often described as 'an old-fashioned musical' with the singing and dancing that bring joy and excitement to the audience. Lastly, the struggles of being an artist are portrayed through Mia's constant struggles with auditions and never getting the role, but also Sebastian's dreams of playing in his own jazz club.

La La Land can be interpreted in many different ways, with many morals and messages, the main one I picked up was to follow your dreams no matter what, even if that means leaving someone behind. Even though the couple spends most of the film together, the movie never really belonged to their love story.

The ending, although Mia and Sebastian do not end up together, is still surprisingly happy as Mia has finally achieved her long-awaited acting career, and Sebastian his jazz bar. La la land is fashioned after Old Hollywood musicals that almost always have happy endings in which the couple end up together, however, this is what sets La La Land apart as it shows happiness can be found in other ways.

Another message this film conveys is that most of the time, it isn't love at first sight, in fact, it is quite the opposite for the two protagonists as the first time they meet in a small restaurant where Sebastian is playing, Mia starts talking to him, only to be blanked and get nudged out of the way instead.

La La Land has received 14 nominations for the Oscar awards – the same amount 'Titanic' was nominated for. The Hollywood musical has also broken the record for the most Golden Globe Awards, winning all 7 of its nominations.

Ellie. A stated “[she] thought it was a beautiful piece of cinematic art that was inspiring, along with stunning music. [she] would not hesitate to see it again!”

Furthermore, after hearing 'City of Stars', S. Gill declared it as “Flawlessly written” and also notified me of how she couldn't wait to see it.

I personally recommend this film to everyone and anyone who enjoys musicals and romance as this film will leave you with tears in your eyes, smiles on your faces, as well as its catchy songs, weaved into your minds.

“Song and dance in the key of life. That's the irresistible appeal of La La Land” - A.A Dowd.