Gosling & Stone make all the right moves.

Nostalgia is an odd thing. In many ways, we’re all predisposed to feel it, to hanker for a past that probably didn’t exist in the first place. Who hasn’t been invited to a fancy dress party for a decade no one attending was alive to witness? As humans, we often get lost in the comfort nostalgia affords us and long for a time when everything just seemed alright. It can be fun but, at its worst, it’s a dangerous concept; a regressive notion with the ability to stifle progression. In essence, if you’re always looking to the past and willing to bask in its warm, rose-tinted glow, what chance do you have to move forward?

Now more than ever, Hollywood finds itself stuck in a nostalgia bubble. Whether this is down to a lack of imagination is up for debate but what’s inarguable is how this nostalgia has led to is an industry awash with reboots and remakes delving into cinema’s past to milk it for every drop. In amongst this sea of unabashed risk-adversity however, there are many fine examples of nostalgia done right. These films eschew mimicry by using history to take us by the hand and dance with us into the future. La La Land works this angle perfectly, as it brazenly delves into Hollywood’s past to pull on our nostalgic heartstrings, while knocking out a fresh tune or two of its own.

Set in modern day Los Angeles, La La Land tells the story of Mia (Emma Stone) - an aspiring actress and part time barista at an on-studio coffee shop - and Sebastian (Ryan Gosling) - a talented but down on his luck jazz musician - as they struggle to make ends meet in city well known for its harsh realities. As a string of chance encounters draw the two together, we join them in a journey of love, hope, and dream chasing. With success slowly mounting, the couple are faced with decisions that threaten to fray the fabric of their relationship, as their dreams begin pulling them apart.

Despite its shameless period appearance, La La Land is every bit the 21st century musical it aspires to be. Much like 2011’s The Artist, it takes a period dear to Hollywood and spins it gracefully for a modern audience. While La La Land wears its influences like a badge of honour, it’s heart yearning a classic era of cinema, its head is very much in the here and now. Invoking the musical’s golden age, the film’s bold primary colours and larger-than-life set pieces take healthy doses of influence from genre classic such as The Umbrellas of Cherbourg and Singin’ in the Rain but, while this sounds like the recipe for a nostalgic car crash, the film stays firmly rooted in modern-day L.A.

The retro glow of the CinemaScope opening card has barely had time to dim before we’re hit with the most spectacular Los Angeles commuter traffic jam you’re likely to witness. The choreography and scale of this opening scene are enough to send you hurtling back to a classic musical era, but the setting and faces on display are incredibly contemporary. This push and pull of tradition and modernity is mirrored throughout La La Land but, in particular, by Sebastian struggles to balance his fundamentalist jazz ideals with a growing need to evolve. As an acquaintance (played by the eternally cool John Legend) tells to him: “How are you gonna be a revolutionary if you’re such a traditionalist?”. And herein lies the central conundrum of La La Land. The film could easily play to its traditionalist tendencies and become a nostalgia piece in a long line of Hollywood nostalgia pieces, but it knows better than that. The film know that, in order to survive, it must embrace change.

Whether we acknowledge it or not, audiences approach musicals with a stack of preconceptions and you’d be a better person than I this wasn’t the case with La La Land. Like every good genre, musicals come chock-full of tropes so reliable you can hang your hat on them. While La La Land certainly doesn’t shy away from embracing many of these tropes, things aren’t always what they see as, on more than the odd occasion, the film will pull the rug from beneath you. For all its traditional bells and whistles, La La Land is surprisingly progressive in its thinking; taking many unexpected turns along the way and finishing in a far less sentimental place than anticipated. Where many musicals would happily drive a well-travelled plot path, La La Land is happy to pull back just as things get comfortable and deliver an unanticipated emotional punch that feels genuinely fresh.

Musicals occupy a very different place on the pop culture landscape than they did in Hollywood’s heyday and to get a film of La La Land’s extravagance funded and produced in such a relatively hostile environment, is nothing short of miraculous. Much of the credit for this achievement must go to writer-director Damien Chazelle who, despite his youth, has exhibited a mature handling of a genre that could would’ve ended a lesser filmmaker. Everything from the cinematography to the choreography is dealt with in such a composed manner that you’d be forgiven for thinking it’d come from an industry veteran, not a thirty-something in only his third directorial outing. Where Whiplash and the ultra-low budget Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench saw Chazelle tinkering with the symbiotic relationship of film and music (most notably jazz), La La Land sees him turn up the gauge and aim for the stars.

Everything about Chazelle’s handing of La La Land feels so effortless, but it’s in his direction of two of Hollywood’s biggest names that the director really excels. Rather than attempt to upstage his stars with overly-extravagant direction, Chazelle keeps things bold but simple and let his leads do the talking; for they are the film’s true calling card.

While far from non-existent, La La Land feels rather bereft of support of much note, making the film every inch the Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling double-header its billed to be. A film of La La Land’s ilk really does sink or swims on the chemistry of its lead duo, so to see Stone and Gosling pull it off so effortlessly is an absolute joy to behold. Channelling their inner Astaire and Rogers, the pair’s willingness to throw themselves head-first into every song and every dance is infectious and, while they are certainly rough around the edges, their heart shines through.

Where golden age performers such as Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers would deliver nothing less than perfection with their routines, Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone’s unpolished performance offers something different and altogether deeper. La La Land delivers the musical it promises but what adds unexpected depth to a genre known for its surface glean, is its character. Neither the characters, nor the actors playing them, could be considered perfect and, far from the wide smiles and pin-point choreography of the past, none are the well-drilled song and dance machines we’ve come to expect. For some this will be far from the musical they’ve come for but, for many, it’s in these imperfections that only add to La La Land’s charm.

With their performances so intertwined, it’s almost impossible to split the two leads from one another, but it’s Emma Stone who takes it at a pinch. Whilst Gosling is perfect as the stubborn but gifted Sebastian – all dry wit and tinkling ivories – it’s Stone’s Mia that really shines; hitting just the right chord between aspirational star and genuine congeniality. Mia’s Hollywood life may be far removed from many people’s but its testament to Stone’s down-to-earth charisma that the character’s situation feels so relatable. While few among us will have been at the other end of a Hollywood casting call, we’ve all been there in that audition in some way or another; chasing our dreams and waiting anxiously for the call back.

From start to finish, Stone and Gosling pour their heart and soul into a performance so well rounded and magnetic that even the films occasional misstep into arch self-awareness can be quickly forgiven. As the film unequivocally tells you to aim for the stars, and not to stop until you get there, it’s in La La Land’s two stars that the film is able to reach heights that many others can only dream.

Filled to the brim with memorable dance numbers and a soundtrack that many will be humming on their way home, La La Land is a spellbinding rush to the last. The film’s dedication to complementing its uplifting musical numbers, with well-pitched character-driven drama, means La La Land is far from the unabashed feel-good story some will expect. With its director and co-stars bringing everything they have to the table, it’s hard not to be in awe of such an expertly and bravely put together film that simultaneously harks back to the golden age of the musical, while paving a path for the genre’s future.