I owe being a romantic to musicals. They depicted feelings so intense, they simply had to be expressed through song. Some emotions just beg to be danced to, hence my love of classic films – my parents enjoyed them too – and awe of Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire. Astaire and Kelly, in my eyes, were among the most fascinating stars in cinematic history. Unlike traditional films, love in musicals was different; they expressed love not just through actions, but transformed it into art, pure and unblemished closer to true romance.

Since the days of Rogers & Astaire, we’ve had some musicals, but not many that attempt to recapture the fluid, magical thinking in which characters interact through dance just as much, or even more, than they do through spoken dialogue. “La La Land” by Damien Chazelle is remarkable in how it focuses on movement and music, not just lyrics. Most modern movie musicals, which are based on Broadway shows, pay greater attention to songs that advance the story. As Chazelle proves, choreography matters; a refrain played on the piano can be far more powerful than words. This is a beautiful film about love, dreams, and the effects they have on each other. A partner is sometimes what it takes to make the dream come true.

"La La Land" begins with a bit of a trick in that its ensemble number is of a type that we will not really encounter again in the movie. Drivers are stuck in the worst traffic jam L.A. has to offer when they start to sing "Another Day of Sun," a piece dedicated to how each day offers fresh hope for the aspiring artists, young and old. The drivers exit their vehicles and start dancing on the freeway. Right away, Chazelle's direction and the choreography seems different. Throughout the film, he works with long, unbroken takes. It is rest assured that you not only see the dance steps, but the entire body of the dancer performing them. After the boilerplate introduction to the city of dreamers, we meet two of the Sebs (Ryan Gosling) and Mia (Emma Stone), sun-gazers. As any good musical does, these two know that they have to get to where this is going. Let me tell you, it is hard to resist hoping for them to be together.

The first major landmark scene is the lengthy walk shared by Sebastian and Mia while the sun sets over Hollywood hills. They begin to note some similarities in each other. Mia is sick and tired of attending meaningless auditions where the producer doesn’t even look up from his phone. Sebastian clings to the ideal version of jazz and wishes to open his own club instead of selling out and playing greatest hits for tourists. Also, Sebastian and Mia experience a clear, instant chemistry. Despite singing about how they are not a couple and bashing the stunning night for being wasted when not with true partners, their bodies unveil another tale with a beautifully choreographed dance number. Gosling and Stone are neither great singers nor dancers, but they bestow so much personality and dedication into every single step that it hardly matters. They are not stiff and captivated, they are fluid and engrossing. We witness them fall in love through dance.

It surely helps that Gosling and Stone possess the kind of star power that made many of those iconic era musicals unforgettable. He's smooth and charming; she's smart and attractive. These phrases may appear overused, but they are quintessential movie stars. And, naturally, they’re equal to the task when “La La Land Watch here Hurawatch” requires greater depth, discovering characters so rich that the film would work without the music would argue otherwise. Everyone knows it’s about passion, and how simple it is to lose sight of your aspirations. At times, another person is needed to guide you back on track to rediscover it. Gosling and Stone understand these characters, securing grace in their movement, emotional depth in successive arcs, and Stone has never been better.

“La La Land” remains an intentional tribute to classic Hollywood glamour. The couple goes to the cinema to watch “Rebel Without a Cause” (which ends in one of the most enchanting sequences in years). Other films are also referenced, such as “Casablanca” and “Bringing Up Baby.” Dozens of films have attempted—sometimes pessimistically—to portray the glamour of Hollywood and its capital in Los Angeles, but Chazelle’s vision strikes me as distinct. It shows respect towards “Singin’ in the Rain” and Jacques Demy’s “The Umbrellas of Cherbourg,” instead of directly copying them.

For those who struggle with staying hopeful, like in this year for example, it is easy to fall deep into negativity. When immersed in such thoughts, it becomes easy to believe that love only exists on the silver screen and dreams are impossible to materialize. “La La Land” restores the hope that has been lost by showing that there are still movies that capture the essence of magic, and in turn, enable reality to be filled with beauty.

Since 'dreams' is one of the words that gets brought up in the entirety of the text – "Not so much another day in the sun, as the characters sing in that opening number." Dreams can have multiple people's lives surrounding them as long as there is a collaboration. For example, a family or group of friends who are closely knit or a part of one another’s ambitions.

The term dancing here stands for a poetic expression, needed specialized context to be interpreted and translated for meaning such as ‘keep us moving forward.’ So, retaining the meaning, we perceive words and phrases literally to engage the surrounding scope as we include why we pursue to advance ‘wake us up’ meaning progress towards treating that dream as a reality.

In simple terms, every single person is dream driven, having varying levels of motivation, resulting in the pursuit of striving towards a goal conditioned by how differences solve incompatibilities. Which is only achievable for that family if the head of the household or other adult or minor is working, earning or pursuing.