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****
Dir: Damien Chazelle (12A, 128 mins)
From the director of Whiplash comes a glorious romantic musical drama that boldly offers up an unironic song and dance experience with real heart. Emma Stone is wonderful as Mia, a wannabe actress dreaming of stardom who bumps into Ryan Gosling’s sardonic Seb, a free jazz pianist hardened by life but with a big heart hidden underneath. The pair of them meet again and again and eventually fall in love. They both dream of success and encourage each other, Gosling opens his own jazz club, Stone does a one woman show and eventually their careers take them on a path of romantic implosion. This may seem twee, but the chemistry between Stone and Gosling is infectious, the musical numbers, although sometimes appearing cheesy ultimately beguile and the film demands you to be swept up in its old-school song and dance. Feel good, old fashioned fun.
Opens Jan 13