La La Land has swept the BAFTA. There can’t be any question regarding it’s quality and we thoroughly enjoyed this romantic musical. For the story as well as the fact that we were watching a musical after quite a while.

The plot is about a jazz musician Sebastian played by Ryan Gosling and his actress girlfriend Mia played by Emma Stone. The musician and the actor bond over the passion for their art but at some time practical considerations take over. As a result Sebastian joins a commercial venture abandoning his passion for the art.

This is a very relatable plot. Many of us who are musicians at heart are forced to become accountants. Thus the audience connect is not surprising. We also love the subtlety in handling emotions that run high all over this film. That said, there are many films that are made on this theme and little novelty is left in this concept. Spoiler alert: The couple splits towards the end and this is a popular climax to romantic movies. In a nutshell the film does not convey anything new.

What bowled us over is the great music by Justin Hurwitz. Its been a week and we are still humming the song “City of Stars“. The run time of this film is about 2 hours and 10 minutes. All in all its a great effort and we recommend this film to romantic movie buffs.