10 Greatest Ever Musical Movies

Damien Chazelle is at his best making movies that centre around music (see his masterpiece Whiplash, if you haven't already), and this sentiment is effortlessly reflected in La La Land. On the surface, La La Land seems like your typical romantic comedy movie, with the blossoming love story between Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone being the main thrust of the plot.

Cut to about halfway through, however, and you start to see their dreams undermined and their personal trajectories fire off in rapidly different directions. These are not happy people anymore, and the songs become expressions of this dissonance. Where we were once awaiting the two unlikely lovers to couple up, we now witness the ugly side of human relationships in a genre which far too often relies on the "thrill of the chase" romantic plot.

Aping several classic hits in the same genre through its runtime, La La Land pays homage to movie musicals long past and reinvigorates classic sequences like the famous dawn tap dance number for the modern audience. Moreover, it's a genuine story about self-discovery and personal development. It really does feel like the Hollywood magic that inspires its name.