Maestro (2023)

[Eric the Fall Guy]

Discuss

[ringedmortality]

This is great. It's kind of interesting that after a really good critical reception from the fall fests, that film twitter absolutely hates this. I'm definitely in the Zacharek camp here: https://time.com/6310176/maestro-review-leonard-bernstein-bradley-cooper/.

 

It's a love letter to Old Hollywood, from the way it looks, to the dialogue, to the performances. It's all very theatrical, like movies from that era. I think people really don't like that theatricality though.

 

 

[WorkingonaName]

He was gay, Bradley Cooper? 

[filmlover]

This is an interesting and visually stunning follow-up for Bradley Cooper behind the camera to A Star Is Born, but the uneven focus between Bernstein's career and turbulent marriage does create pacing issues that make it frustrating at times. It races through his career as a composer and his accomplishments, so if you don't already know his works (any time his music is sampled though *chef's kiss* as well as the stunning sequence in the Ely Cathedral), you won't entirely get why he's an icon. This ultimately works much better as a portrait of a complicated relationship, and the third act following Felicia's cancer diagnosis arguably generates most of the movie's power. The most effective sequence in the entire film for me was definitely the argument set against the backdrop of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade while the kids excitedly watch from another room, oblivious to their parents fighting behind closed doors.

 

Leaving aside the makeup work that has already been talked about enough, I do think Cooper gives a very strong performance that seems to capture what Bernstein was like in his professional life. Not sure if he deserves to win an Oscar for this, but I wouldn't complain if he did. Equally matching him at times is Carey Mulligan, who breathes life into the role of a woman who knows her marriage has no true spark but stays in it until the end. This is very much a two-hander, though Sarah Silverman, Maya Hawke, and Matt Bomer all contribute solid work in their handful of scenes (even if I couldn't help but get the impression that Cooper and Bomer would've been more believable as brothers than lovers lol).

 

Perhaps fittingly, the movie this reminded me the most of was the previous year's Tar (in which Bernstein was cited as an influence for that fictional character). Both are movies I found easier to admire than to fully embrace, but Cooper's approach makes this more engaging than the average biopic tends to be and I'm eager to see what he does in the director's chair next.

 

B+