The streets of York were very quiet this January afternoon.
It was midweek, very cold and grey, too chilly to linger and take in the sights of the historic city centre.
So we dived straight into the Dean Court Hotel for a pre-film meal, admiring the Minster from the restaurant window.
It was a wonderful lunch, the perfect way to set ourselves up for the afternoon showing of La La Land at nearby City Screen.
We got to the cinema just a few minutes before the film was due to start, and even though this was the mid-afternoon showing in the cinema’s biggest auditorium, it was sold out.
The only seats we could get together were on the second row right down at the front.
But it wasn’t too bad as the screen is a fair distance from the seating and we didn’t have to crane our necks to see the film.
What an exuberant, uplifting film ‘La La Land’ turned out to be.
The music was fantastic – not just the romantic songs but also some brilliant jazz in the night club scenes.
Superb cinematography made the city of Los Angeles look more seductive than ever, whether in full daylight, sunset or after dark.
Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone were both terrific, living out their frustrations and dreams in LA’s hyper-competitive movie and music scenes.
There was also some nice deadpan humour in the script, particularly for Ryan Gosling’s character.
La La Land is quite magical – before I’d made it out the cinema at the end of the film I was already thinking of when to go see it again.
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