I’ve been a life-long fan of classic films. Classic romantic films in particular such as ‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s,’ ‘Singin’ in the Rain,’ and ‘Roman Holiday’ all have a sort of magic about them, with an uplifting tone and structure, it’s just impossible to have a huge smile on your face by the end of them. With 2016’s ‘La La Land,” writer-director Damien Chazelle brought a modern classic to the big screen, with a hint of the contemporary into it with grace and finesse.

The film revolves around two struggling artists, Sebastian and Mia. Sebastian is played by the always charismatic Ryan Gosling, a very (sometimes overly) passionate jazz pianist who is very in love with traditional direction of jazz and dreams of opening a jazz club one day. His other half is played by the wonderfully graceful Emma Stone as a struggling actress that juggles trying to survive her day job as a barista in the Starbucks at the Hollywood set and the auditions themselves.

Thematically, the film is essentially a pure romantic film that explores life when you’re in love with an art, what happens when take steps into making it come true, or when you find the person who is the love of your life. What makes this film so wonderful, is that it explores both of those directions so well. The tension between reality and dreams in both a fantastical and realistic manner such as the dancing numbers and the audition scenes contrasted each other so well while conveying the same message.

Speaking of direction, the movie just pops out into the screen with it’s wonderful use of colors that looks like it’s straight out of a painting. The using of lighting and particularly the costumes were just used with vibrant colors and set pieces that reminisce the Golden Age of Hollywood like no other contemporary movie has done. Major props to the cinematographer of the film, Linus Sandgren to create the marvelous blend of the classic and contemporary together so well. Besides just one handheld shot that really stuck out to me in the middle of the film, the shot composition was very disciplined and steady for the audience to see everything.

I like to think that the city of Los Angeles is basically another character in the film, as the city where dreams come true, or shot down in a blink of an eye. Many films throughout the years have showcased LA but nothing like this.

One thing that was definitely interesting that there weren’t as many songs as I thought there would be, but whenever there is the film really picks up and brings forth its magic and fantasy. As the second act has little to no songs, it’s as if real life had kicked in and we have to let reality come back and realize sometimes that dreams don’t always come true for everyone.

In the end, the movie is truly an instant classic and a film some people can see as truly inspiring, magical and whimsical, or tragic, sobering and escapism. But for me I found it to be the first option. I thoroughly enjoyed this movie and I can’t wait to see it again and buying it on blu-ray the first day it comes out.