Maestro

I was very excited when I heard Maestro was coming out. With all this filmmaking firepower, it would have to be worthy of its subject. Now I've seen the movie and am stunned by the wasted talent and energy expended for what turned into another movie about rich, talented people who appear to have it all, but get sad and emotional just like the rest of us. They just talk about it a LOT more.

The film is beautifully photographed, but I have no idea what the format change and the black and white to color change accomplished. The acting was good, but rather than being shown that the characters are going through something emotional, we are told, All these immensely talented people seem to talk about is their feelings, not their motivations, plans and aspirations.

Leonard Bernstein wrote and conducted some of the most memorable music of the 20th century. He singlehandedly (with help from Bugs Bunny) kept interest in classical music alive when jazz and rock were kings. But we learn nothing of this in this film. Bernstein's talents and accomplishments are presented as facts, without exploration. What a waste.

Obviously made for the Academy to truly honor Bradley Cooper remarkable transformation into the hoity toity world of Leonard Bernstein. Yes, we know he is going to be great in this role. But sometimes when you surround yourself with Oscar level material and talent, it could seem like it's just fishing for the Little Gold dude.

This is what it felt like. Though, simultaneously...he's just good.

Actor turned directors don't always work. Especially virtuosos that started clownish and end up in the serious zone. Cooper is that guy. Following in the footsteps of Clint Eastwood rather than, say Charles Laughton. It felt like a natural transition for Cooper who seemed to fine tune his energies towards more serious endeavors outside of things like "The Hangover" flicks.

"Silver Linings Playbook" was the start.

And who are his mentors in directing if it weren't the top tier directors.... David O' Russell, Paul Thomas Anderson, Spielberg, Scorsese or Clint Eastwood himself.

What this film struggles with, is the interest level. A lot will go over modern audiences head. Simply because we only know him as the guy who did the music to "West Side Story" And even THAT is stretching it. Cooper doesn't focus his energy on that rather this "love" story of a woman who fell for a gay guy. This would've been interesting 30 years ago. Now, not as intriguing.

Carey Mulligan is the best thing in this movie. At times, she is very much a Katherine Hepburn North Atlantic phony. But when some of the veil of her pain rises to the surface, she drops the pleasantries and tells it like it is.

There is a moment during a Thanksgiving party where we see some of the best acting I've seen between two people. Dialogue is somewhat on the nose, but boy do they both play it to the hilt. It's phenomenal, the ability to get to a screaming match with the words actually meaning something. That is an accomplishment.

Things get slow when the self-indulgent conducting moment creeps in. Yes, we know Brad studied a long time to get Bernstein's mannerisms. Do we really have to see all of it?

Other things that bothered me... it still feels like a very cold movie. Aside from Mulligan, his entire family seems to have been plugged in as trope characters to get you more understanding of the guy. They don't add much. Perhaps that was attempting to be subtle. It felt like subterfuge.

This was Oscar bait in absolute.

Even with its 4 strong nominations at the Golden Globes (Picture, Director, Actor, Actress), I must say my appreciation of Cooper's new film is not as stellar, as organic and fantastic as A Star Is Born (2018) - 8 Oscar noms.

Netflix's firs real Oscar contender was Alfonso Cuarón's Roma (2018) which won 3 of its 10 nominations. Last year's Germany's remake of All Quiet on the Western Front (2022) was nominated for 9 Oscars and won 4. My all-time Netflix favorite is Noah Baumbach's Marriage Story which I rewatched recently. It is much better than that year's Best Picture co-nominee Martin Scorsese's The Irishman (2019) which was still as solid movie. Neither won and Netflix's overall 8 Best Picture nominees did not win since a decade at the Oscars.

This year, Scorsese produces Maestro (2023) with Spielberg, but his own slow burn of a movie Killers of the Flower Moon (2023) has more flair yet not a Netflix production (he produces it with DiCaprio). I think this year's Netflix better picture is Todd Haynes's May December (2023 - also nominated for 4 Golden Globes). So why did Bradley Cooper not exactly deliver?

Carey Mulligan's performance is certainly good, yet his directing lacks the creation of intimacy like he did with Lady Gaga in A Star Is Born. Most interactions are superficial, and you have to wait until the 75th minute to see the first powerful scene with strong dialogue and directing. The intro scenes are compelling up until the two main characters meet, but I found the rest of the first hour a mess. The second half of the film is surely better yet lacks urgency or dramatic tension in directing, even in the hospital scene. There is also a shortage of real wisdom or realisation in the script. We are left with a light and superficial understanding of the two main characters, even to the point where their respective love for music and acting and their love for each other is not really felt. Nolan's Oppenheimer (2023) was much more successful in that aspect and Emily Blunt's performance.

Cooper's acting also lacked some charm in my view, save perhaps a few scenes like in the end when he teaches a young conductor.

Finally, Cooper's directing choices for cinematography left the very talented Matthew Libatique with not much to work with. In Black & White, 4:3 aspect ratio or even 16:9 color, few scenes seem to tell the story like a more claustrophobic The Whale (2022) was able to with his Darren Aronofsky collaboration. Libatique was nominated for an Oscar for his work with Aronofsky's fantastic Black Swan (2011) and with Cooper's sublime A Star is Born (2018).

Better luck next time Coop! Good effort. 6.5/10.

We can still see growth, grit and gusto, but misses the mark as a whole.

We don't know much about Leonard Bernstein. We didn't learn why he wanted to be a composer or how he got in the business. His relationship wasn't very clear either. He's bisexual, but that doesn't go anywhere. His wife isn't explained much either other than being a stage actress. We don't know much about his children. The timelines aren't clear when the movie takes place. It seems to start in the 50s other than the opening scene of him as an old man. I do like Bradley Cooper's performance, but not much comes from the character. We don't know what made him famous since he was already famous before his memorable score in On the Waterfront.

It's an old (and unanswerable) question: to what extent is it possible - or desirable - to separate the art from the artist? Is it possible to appreciate the art simply as art, and not to delve into the (sometimes tawdry) details of the artist? Or are the art and the artist so inextricably entwined that you cannot understand the one without knowing the other?

I very much lean towards separation. I fell in love with Bernstein's music the first time I saw West Side Story mumble years ago at an impressionable age; which is why I was disappointed that there was so little West Side Story in this film. Surely a biopic of a composer should feature that composer's music pretty heavily?

Of course, we all know that beneath every great artist is a human being - usually with a collection of human flaws. But does this matter? Well, it matters here. What we mostly get is a film about Leonard the man, and his complicated marriage to Felicia Montealegre. Much of this was new to me. I knew that Bernstein was bisexual, but didn't care. I find that I also don't care about most of the other details of his life which were revealed to me - although if the film was truly about the man, not his music, his record as a human rights activist should probably have been at least touched on. But never mind that: I came for the music, and didn't get enough.

Not that this film is without merit. Bradley Cooper's performance is first class - there's one sequence in which he truly shows us the passion of a great conductor - and Carey Mulligan is as riveting as ever. Cinematography and sound are both excellent.

Overall, this is a good film, but ultimately a disappointing one.