La La Land

Storyline

Written and directed by Damien Chazelle at just 31 years of age, La La Land is a dazzling, vibrant modern musical that reinvents classic Hollywood technicolor romanticism with contemporary emotional realism. Set against the sun-drenched freeways, planetarium skies, and smoky jazz clubs of modern Los Angeles, the film follows the intoxicating romance between Mia Dolan (Emma Stone in her first Oscar-winning role), an aspiring actress juggling soul-draining auditions while working as a Warner Bros. lot barista, and Sebastian Wilder (Ryan Gosling), a purist jazz pianist who dreams of opening his own club to preserve dying musical heritage. As their seasons together unfold—bursting into joyously choreographed musical numbers like 'Another Day of Sun' and the hilltop tap dance 'A Lovely Night'—their passionate support for each other's dreams ironically pulls them down diverging artistic paths. Chazelle balances classic MGM escapism with bittersweet truth, culminating in a legendary, wordless alternate-reality epilogue that captures what might have been. Earning a record-tying 14 Academy Award nominations and winning six Oscars including Best Director, Best Actress, and Justin Hurwitz's score, La La Land is cinema's purest love letter to the dreamers.