La La Land

A closer look at the story

La La Land follows Mia and Sebastian, two passionate people trying to find their way in Los Angeles, whose paths first cross on a day when the city's traffic grinds to a halt. Mia dreams of becoming an actress and pours coffee for film stars at a studio café, squeezing in every audition she can. Sebastian is a jazz musician who scrapes a living playing party gigs in rundown bars while dreaming of a club devoted to traditional jazz. Their shared devotion to their art quickly draws them together. As success starts to arrive, however, the choices it brings begin to wear at the delicate bond between them, and the ambitions each has worked so hard to keep alive in the other threaten to drive them apart. This romantic comedy-drama from 2016, which runs 129 minutes, comes from Damien Chazelle, who both wrote and directed it. Ryan Gosling plays Sebastian and Emma Stone plays Mia, with John Legend, Rosemarie DeWitt and Finn Wittrock in supporting roles.