Nostalgia Cinematic: Damien Chazelle's "La La Land" and the other Hollywood throwbacks of 2016
Among the handful of films released about old Hollywood in 2016, La La Land best captured the magical joy of the Golden Age. While the Cohen Brothers, Warren Beatty and Woody Allen focused more on the studio system aspects of yesterday, with varying results, Damien Chazelle delivered a song and dance extravaganza. Not only is La La Land the much needed feel-good movie of the year, it's perhaps the best film, one that engulfs with starry-eyed euphoria from reel to reel. Ryan Gosling is Sebastian, a Jazz pianist who yearns for the days of Thelonious Monk and can't seem to get with the times in the face of a changing musical landscape. Sebastian first encounters Mia Dolan (Emma Stone) during the film's opening Los Angeles traffic jam musical sequence, as she flips him the bird. Dolan is an aspiring actress who day-jobs as a barista on a studio lot and can't seem to catch a break from casting directors. It's not until Mia and Seb meet and a shy courtship turns in