If you've seen a movie in the past few months you've probably seen the trailer for A Star is Born, as it has been playing non-stop for a while now. After a lot of patient waiting it is finally out and I saw it today. This film marks the directorial debut for Bradley Cooper, and follows seasoned musician Jackson Maine who deals with addiction. He meets an unknown singer named Ally after one of his concerts and the two form a relationship. As they grow together, so does Ally's career.
Along with directing, Cooper plays Jackson in the leading role. This is hands down his best performance to date, bringing a side of his acting that I didn't know existed. He manages to hit many different notes with the character, at times being a charming guy, often being a complete drunk, and occasionally going through very emotional moments. Despite how incredible this performance is, it is matched by Lady Gaga as Ally, in her first starring film role. Ally follows Jackson through most of the films important moments so we get to see how Gaga handles many deeply emotional moments as well, and she does so magnificently. Her performance is raw and it is impossible not to fall in love with her character. Even in just the way she shows the jitters Ally faces when performing in front of a huge crowd is believable, and I really think she knocked this role out of the park. As if their performances weren't good enough on their own, the chemistry between the two is beautiful, building a strong, co-dependent relationship where both have a sense of power. I'm fully expecting both of them to get Oscar nominated for their roles, but I also think Sam Elliot could garner a nomination for his supporting performance. I won't say his exact role because it's neat seeing it play out on screen, but Elliot truly makes the most out of his screen time. He is only in a few scenes but wow does he bring it in those scenes.
This is all around a really well made movie. It starts out very strong, with an awesome musical performance from Cooper. This leads into the story really well and sets a strong energy that lasts quite a while. Cooper's direction is impeccable, especially considering the amount of work he had to do in front of the camera as well. He gets the most out of each and every one of his actors and tells the story really well. If I had a complaint it would just be that the film loses a bit of steam once in a while during the middle portion of the film, which leaves a slightly sour taste when the climactic events of the story come in. For a lot of the film though, I found Cooper's pacing and storytelling very strong. The cinematography of the film surprised me a lot, as there were quite a few scenes that I found myself loving how DOP Matthew Libatique shot them. One big scene near the end in particular really impressed me, as did a lot of the concert performances which I found he captured much better than I expected. And of course with a film like this, you need to talk about the music. What a soundtrack. If I didn't know Cooper wasn't a singer I would have guessed that he had been doing it for all his life, and Lady Gaga sounds as good as I've ever heard her. Expect their big duet to be the front runner for best original song a the Academy Awards.
All in all I was really impressed by this film. There are moments that lose some energy but other than that this is a really well put together film with some fantastic performances, and it will no doubt make noise come awards season.
Rating: 4.4/5
Written by Matt McKenzie
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