It starts with a traffic jam. Overtly optimistic, blinding sunlight beams down on every brightly colored car imaginable. A melody swells from the honks and the engines’ rumble, resulting in a large-scale musical number sung from the hoods of cars. And it ends as suddenly as it begins; everyone returns to their cars, waiting to get into La La Land.

“La La Land” portrays the romance of Mia Dolan (played by Emma Stone) and Sebastian Wilder (Ryan Gosling) as they both focus on their passions, acting and jazz music respectively. Mia is starry-eyed and naturally poised; she works as a barista at a studio coffee shop while trying to find any role available — no matter how degrading or dubious — in between shifts. Seb is a purist fixed on opening his own jazz club with traditional roots. Love and ambition compete against each other as Mia and Seb fight to keep both their dreams and each other.

The colors are alive in this film. They are strikingly vivid and elevate the mythical quality of Los Angeles and the city’s role in the main characters’ lives. They showcase southern California’s people with deep purples and earthy reds, signifying tribulations, ardent love and flourishing hope as each color gets its moment to live alongside Mia and Sebastian. Stone and Gosling’s performances are authentic and full of heart. Their chemistry seems surreal and hopelessly romantic, and it becomes heartwarmingly charming when accompanied with the music. The songs and score carry the same complex tones throughout the plot and are the heart of the movie. The sweeping melodies and buzzing jazz pieces add to the Hollywood feel, which gives the screenplay both uniqueness in today’s silver screen culture and nostalgia of mid-20th century musicals.

With its quirky concept, “La La Land” treads a fine line of being too fizzy and melodramatic. And while it manages to stay on that line for most of the film, it sometimes became too unrealistic or too cheesy to digest. These moments seemed out-of-sync with the modernity of the setting as they tried too hard to appeal to the wistful 1940s and ‘50s. However, the movie snaps back into place, and the fantastic fantasy seems real again.

With its combination of toe-tapping music and once-in-a-lifetime romance, “La La Land” is enthralling and filled to the brim with pure joy and deserving of the grade A. Its cinematography, music and rose-colored perspective make life a bit more beautiful, and that’s comforting to revel in.