A Star Is Born (2018) Review

Jackson Maine (Bradley Cooper), a spiralling country star, is inspired by waitress/wannabe singer Ally (Lady Gaga). When the two fall in love, her star rises with his assistance, while his slowly falls. Is their love strong enough to save him? Or will he, and they, surrender to his emotional anguish and addiction?

It's a romantic epic of a man's battle against his inner demons and a woman's burning star and it's been regenerated like Doctor Who and James Bond. Each generation has its version to call theirs. Starting in 1937 with Janet Gaynor and Fredric March starring, then in 1954 Judy Garland and James Mason took the lead roles and the latest one before the 2018 remake had Barbra Streisand and Kris Kristofferson in the star roles. It has even inspired other Hollywood classics such as The Artist (2011), La La Land (2016), Crazy Heart (2009) and Tender Mercies (1983). Now it's Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga's turn to take the reins, with Cooper playing the alcoholic and fragile megastar who helps grow the star of the woman he loves, played by Gaga. Cooper makes his directorial debut and co-stars in this extraordinarily watchable and enormously entertaining latest iteration. He is paired with a spectacular Gaga, whose ability to be part everyday regular woman, part huge glamorous celebrity reaches new heights.

Early on in Cooper's crowd-pleasing, A Star is Born, there's a scene that sums up what the film is truly about and why it will keep audiences hooked until the very end and for years to come. Cooper's Jackson Maine is having drink after drink, reaching two steps beyond drunk during a performance in a drag club when he runs into Gaga's Ally. She's returned to perform a song, a breath-taking version of "La Vie en Rose," after previously working at the club and now waitressing elsewhere. As her voice begins to climb, she saunters her way down the bar, locking eyes with Maine. Her creativity and stage presence strikes him, but there's something more about the eye contact between the two. At that very moment, no one else in the bar matters, no one in the world matters. Soon after, as Ally prepares to get ready to get Maine another drink, he performs a tender song for the club owner, and she emerges just as he finishes, making eye contact as his vocals reach the emotional peak of the song. Taking everything away from the characters, they are just two people who fall in love with the talent of each other as much as anything else. They are inspired by each other. While this story has been told many times before and has inspired other Hollywood love stories, Cooper and Gaga manage to make it feel raw and special. It's all in their eyes. It's movie magic.

Cooper, Will Fetters, and veteran screenwriter Eric Roth are undeniably influenced by the Streisand/Kristofferson movie. Cooper rewards himself with closeups and huge emotional outbursts that any actor would love to get. He definitely de-machos the part and gives it a vulnerable backstory that has never been seen before in the previous versions. Cooper makes many daring choices in the film, but maybe the decision to record the musical numbers in the film live was the riskiest, but it paid off handsomely. All of the music was captured live at the behest of Gaga. Since the singer has such a distaste for lip-syncing, and it's one of the main reasons why this film is so loved by both audiences and critics. The live music scenes are intoxicating; they are among cinema's most realistic, genuine, and energetic live performance scenes. Both in terms of performance and filmmaking, this is a phenomenal achievement. Though Gaga and Cooper do the majority of the heavy lifting, Jay Cassidy's editing deserves special mention.

When she was cast in the film, many people wondered if she could pull off the role of an ordinary, insecure girl who, while deep down there is secret confidence in her abilities, replays comments from the influential men in the industry like "you sound amazing, but you don't look so great" in her head over and over again. Yes, simply put, she is amazing in the role. She gives an engrossing and well-crafted performance, which can be presumed to be inspired by her own celebrity rise. She holds a surprising realism and rawness that is utterly at odds with her public persona. Ally’s bruises from past rejections and setbacks lay underneath the bravado and fake confidence; she tends to them at times and prods them at others, while her life transforms beyond recognition. However, there are times when Gaga's flamboyant self takes over when she's so at ease in front of a large audience that Ally feels suffocated and Lady Gaga takes her place. Just for these moments, the Ally spell is broken. Gaga got an Academy Award nomination but rightfully did not win. She certainly has the potential to go on and win for a performance in the future.

One of the films' biggest strengths is the strong supporting performances. A career-best performance from Sam Elliot as the brother from whom Maine apparently "stole" his voice earned the veteran actor his first Academy Award nomination. A standout scene from Elliot occurs after a heartfelt moment between the brothers and, without saying anything, Elliot displays everything the audience needs to know with just his facial expression. It is one of the most emotional scenes in a touching film. The cast also includes two predominantly comedic actors taking a turn in dramatic roles, Andrew Dice Clay as Ally's defensive but clumsily damaging father and Dave Chappelle as an old guitarist pal of Jackson's who found a way out of the crazy lifestyle of being a rockstar. In a small but notable role is Anthony Ramos of Broadway fame due to his part in the historic Hamilton (2015-). He looks to be one to keep an eye on in the next few years.

Though Gaga is undeniably the ‘star' of the title, Cooper is undoubtedly the star of the film. Lowering his voice a few octaves to create the gravelly-toned country-rocker who plays in sold-out stadiums and keeps himself together with excessive amounts of booze and drugs. He's phenomenal as a man who's been crippled by life-long mental suffering, including his mother's passing, his father's addiction, and the debilitating tinnitus and hearing disorder he's had since birth, the obvious and constant agony lying right below his eyes, hidden below the lowered cowboy hat. Cooper created a character possibly more iconic than any of the previous characters seen in the other versions of A Star is Born with his long hair, bushy beard and gravelling voice. Jackson Maine is a character that will stay in the hearts and minds of pop culture for years to come. It is all even more impressive when you take into account that this is Cooper's first film he has directed and written. He received an Academy Award nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Motion Picture of the Year and Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role. It was an incredibly strong year with films like Blackkklansman (2018) and The Favourite (2018). It is understandable why A Star is Born did not beat Blackkklansman for Best Adapted Screenplay, but Green Book (2018) beating the film to the Best Motion Picture is something that will be looked at in years to come as an upset. The biggest travesty is Cooper losing out on his first Academy Award to Rami Malek, who won for his portrayal of Freddie Mercury in Bohemian Rhapsody (2018). After wearing prosthetic teeth and a pretentious English accent. Cooper wholeheartedly deserved the Oscar for this role. Cooper had to go beyond the role of a rockstar. He had to be Jackson Maine. You're instantly mesmerized when A Star Is Born opens with Jackson Maine on stage, downing several pills with a mixed drink, smiling at a delirious crowd, and playing one of his band's trademark songs, "Black Eyes." Cooper embodies an extreme, tangible intensity in Maine, and it's obvious right away that he's someone who's stardom is cursed to fade away in a sad fashion, a casualty of self-destruction.

Shallow may have been the film's Oscar-winning song, but the film itself is as deep and rich as Bradley Cooper's voice, and as vivid as Lady Gaga's silver screen future. Bradley Cooper's directorial debut is strikingly confident, and he delivers a career-defining performance alongside an exciting Lady Gaga. A Star Is Born is a reboot that retains the sound and essence of previous films while also forging its own heartfelt, genuine path to creating a classic.