With: Bradley Cooper, Carey Mulligan, Matt Bomer, Vincenzo Amato, Greg Hildreth, Michael Urie, Brian Klugman, Nick Blaemire, Mallory Portnoy, Sarah Silverman, Yasen Peyankov, Zachary Booth, Miriam Shor, Maya Hawke, Gideon Glick, Josh Hamilton, June Gable, Alexa Swinton
|
Written by: Bradley Cooper, Josh Singer
|
Directed by: Bradley Cooper
|
MPAA Rating: R for some language and drug use
|
Running Time: 129
|
|
Date: 12/20/2023
|
|
|
|
Baton Twirling
By Jeffrey M. Anderson
Bradley Cooper seems to have studied lots of Orson Welles and Howard Hawks before embarking on his directorial follow-up to A Star Is Born. (An enthusiastic critic, quoted on the "For Your Consideration" screener, compares him to no less than Ernst Lubitsch.) His film Maestro is packed with fast-paced, overlapping dialogue, big performances, and virtuoso compositions and camerawork, and yet it still manages to feel curiously empty. Despite Cooper's best efforts, it's ultimately a typical biopic, hitting all the typical beats. It also assumes that the viewer has at least an intermediate knowledge of Leonard Bernstein, and amateurs are sure to be left out in the cold. Carey Mulligan has been praised for her performance as Bernstein's romantic partner Felicia, but we see her only in relation to him; the character doesn't have a soul of her own.
|
