La La Land

The presence of the charismatic and very talented Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling goes a long way towards ensuring La La Land will find a big audience. It would be a mistake to stay away thinking the film is in the genre of cinematic versions of stage musicals, e.g. Into The Woods, if you’re not into that sort of thing. La La Land is more like a Hollywood musical of old, with Stone’s and Gosling’s song and dance numbers reminiscent of Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly and Leslie Caron. One number could be straight out of An American In Paris.

It’s also helpful to know that the film’s director is Damien Chazelle, from the Oscar-winning film, Whiplash. He brings the same inventive skills to La La Land, and it’s a joy. Which isn’t to say that it’s all sunshine and lollipops — it’s actually quite melancholy as it explores the ideals and dreams of Stone’s actress, Mia, and Gosling’s jazz pianist, Sebastian, and how those ideals are very different from the harsh reality of trying to make it in Hollywood.

When Mia and Sebastian meet and inevitably are attracted to each other, they’re both struggling. Mia, a barista on the Warner Brothers movie lot, goes to countless humiliating auditions, while jazz traditionalist Sebastian has to compromise with the style of music he plays, touring with an electro band led by John Legend.

While not traditional school holiday fare with its emotionally mature themes, La La Land would be a great film to take a young teen to as long as you don’t mind two casual f-words. Apart from that, it’s well and truly PG.