La La Land is a musical set in present day Los Angeles with one foot firmly planted in the glamour and nostalgia of Old Hollywood.

It is a rainbow of emotions spanning the seasons – ranging from the hopelessness of winter to the passion of summer, following the ebb and flow of a relationship between Mia, a struggling actress, and Sebastian, a jazz pianist.

The two leads are played by Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling, whose success together in past films is evident in the seamless give-and-take banter between the two and their sparkling chemistry shines throughout the film, especially during the more tense scenes where their reactionary deliverance draws the audience in.

Opening on the well-known traffic-jammed freeways of Los Angeles, La La Land immediately launches into an ambitious musical number that sets the tone for the movie: colorfully retro, electric with feeling, and artfully designed.

Every detail is important with historical backdrops and their meaning in L.A. culture, costumes and their call to past idols, lighting that becomes metaphorical with its mysterious blues, blazing reds, and reverent yellows all purposefully chosen to produce a certain emotion from the viewer.

As Mia and Sebastian start to appear in each other’s lives, they are each in the midst of career struggles; he a member of the dying art of Jazz and she miserable as a barista and lacking callbacks. Thus, their eventual relationship has a third partner: their dreams.

The audience is then a witness to the rise and fall of their careers as Mia and Sebastian chase their life long dreams and, at the same time, fall helplessly in love.

La La Land is a love story between the poster children of Los Angeles, actors and musicians, and so it also becomes a love letter to creativity and dreaming big and bold. It is a movie for artists by those who know all too well the importance of film as a work of art.