La La Land (2 h, 8 m, 12A)

With a record-breaking seven Golden Globes and a jaw-dropping fourteen Academy Award nominations, plus nigh-universal acclaim, La La Land has almost certainly staked its claim in the pantheon of the greatest musicals of all time. Yet, even with these plaudits, its tale of two ambitious dreamers falling in love against the enticing lights of Los Angeles is that rarest of films; one that can get even the most ardently anti-musical of film-goers to fall in love with an entire genre.

If I may be honest, musicals are not generally my cup of tea-whilst I have seen several, largely of the genre's 1930s to 1950s golden age, and of course a decent number of Disney films, my tastes lie towards the genre's rockier (or indeed, more metallic) end, with films such as The Rocky Horror Picture Show and Repo! The Genetic Opera-yet, from La La Land's opening number, La La Land had me hooked. From the very opening note of Another Day of Sun, we're taken through a truly spectacular scene that leads cross-section of LA citizens in that most L.A. of things, the morning traffic jam, before suddenly bursting into a full-song-and-dance number worthy of any of the greatest films of the genre,  with drivers leaping out of their cars to join the action, and seemingly all shot in one breathless, ecstatic shot.
Another Day of Sun effortlessly sets the tone for the entire film, not only in its utter visual ambition, its jazz-driven soundtrack and unabashed sense of fun, but in its lyrical content, which tells of lost love,  the glow of this silver screen, and indeed cinema in general, music and being a performer, and key to the entire film, the inexorable pull of Los Angeles and the ambition and drive to be somebody. It's, much as Sondheim and Bernstein's "America" does, the perfect depiction of American Dream writ large, the idea of being someone, getting away from the quiet or boring rural life towards the glittering lights of a major city, there to be somebody, despite the odds.

From here, we're introduced to Sebastian (Ryan Gosling), an aspiring jazz musician who wants to eventually open his own bar on the site of a legendary jazz club, and Mia Dolan (Emma Stone), an aspiring actress, despite failing to get many auditions. Whilst their initial meeting on the freeway does not go well, their paths begin to cross, with Mia coming across the club at which Sebastian plays after walking from a party to hear him passionately play a piano piece that comes to represent their relationship only to see him fired and storm past her without a word. They meet again at a party and eventually seem to hit it off through a second, almost deliberately atypical (for a musical) song (A Lovely Night), incorporating some Fred Astaire-esque tap-dancing, and some of the film's best (sung) dialogue.
Sebastian then invites her to go to a jazz club, to share his passion with the genre, and, having won her over to the passion and indeed the soul of jazz, to see Rebel Without A Cause. Despite it clashing with a date with her current boyfriend, she eventually makes it to the cinema, only for the reel to break down-nevertheless, they then travel to the observatory key to the film, and here, the film unveils one of its most stunning sequences, as the duo trade the twinkling lights of Los Angeles for the galaxies and stars of the night's sky. 

From here, the duo travel on, both trying to fulfil their dreams, and here the film reveals what, essentially, is its true theme-compromise, not only between its leading lady and man, but in their own ambitions-Sebastian is invited by an old friend to join his group, but fears he may have to dilute his love of pure jazz in the face of modernity, and give up his long-held dream of a jazz club. Mia, for her part, returns to her own ambition of writing a play, drawing upon what first drew her into acting, but fears it will be unsuccessful. Both clearly want to be somebody, to share their passion for their chosen field with the world but do they become somebody at the cost of being who they wanted to be?
Nowhere else is this better shown (or sung) than in The Fools Who Dream, (and it may come as no surprise that, alongside another piece from La La Land, this has been nominated for the Best Original Song Academy Award).  Such is the emotional pull of this single song that it made someone like me cry-it resonates perfectly with anyone who has ever had a dream, or ever created or felt the need to create, but had to put it aside, even for the moment, in the face of real life. Few other pieces from musicals, new or old have encapsulated what ambition, the intrinsic need to chase dreams, wherever they may go, feels like, let alone captured it so perfectly, with such fragility. Indeed, in places, La La Land feels like a dream, a film more driven by emotion than logic, by feeling rather than sense-but after all, isn't that what ambition and love share in common-a feeling from the heart, rather than a thought from the mind?

The Fools Who Dream is also, without a doubt, the film's vocal highpoint-whilst Gosling and Stone's singing and dancing have been one of the few gaps in this film's otherwise bulletproof armour, I found no fault with either of their performances-Sebastian and Mia, after all, are normal people in the frame of this film, rather than set out as spectacularly talented people, and through the film, the quality of both seems to deliberately improve, as though both are gaining confidence within themselves and with each other. The score and songs themselves are nigh-perfect, both as songs, and in terms of their choreography; bold and harking back to the Golden Age of Musicals, but with smart modern twists.
The big numbers, in particularly Another Day of Sun have a suitably epic sense to them, colourful and grand, whilst the more intimate songs, particularly the multiple reprises of City of Stars are shot with great care, spotlights often highlighting the key players and fading the rest to black, or else focusing on the closeness of Mia and Sebastian-Gosling's piano pieces in particular are beautifully shot and have a balletic sense of their own. Moreover, this film passes that most important of musical tests, with multiple people at the same screening I attended leaving humming (or in one case, singing) songs. If anything else was required to prove that La La Land is a worthy successor, or even addition, to the great musicals of the 20th century, this is it.

What more can be said about La La Land? It's a film of a rare quality, a beautiful piece of dream-like escapism with a visual flair and unabashed sense of fun, driven by a sense of ambition, and of chasing dreams, even if they seem impossible, underlined by one of the best song-books from a cinematic musical in decades. So, here's to the ones who dream, foolish as they may seem-because sometimes, their dreams become reality.

Rating: Highly Recommended.