A Star Is Born
5 stars
Director: Bradley Cooper
Stars: Lady Gaga, Bradley Cooper, Sam Elliot
Duration: 117 mins
Class: 15
KRS Releasing Ltd

It’s a match made in movie musical heaven as one of the music industry’s most outlandish stars and one of the Hollywood’s hottest heartthrobs come together to make a gloriously old-fashioned love story.

A Star is Born is an ode to Hollywood past. And yes, it’s a story that’s often been told – three times on the big screen to date (the 1937 drama starring Janet Gaynor and Fredric March, the 1954 musical with Judy Garland and James Mason and the 1976 musical with Barbra Streisand  and Kris Kristofferson), but it’s one whose appeal never dies as can be attested by this latest telling – two individuals coming together, one of them is on the rise and the other on the decline; but their meeting is one of the minds, hearts and souls.

Bradley Cooper stars as veteran musician Jackson Maine… still popular, still performing to huge crowds, yet a man struggling with many demons. Lady Gaga is Ally, a waitress who has shelved her dreams of a singing/song-writing career because she self-critically thinks she hasn’t got what it takes. Jackson stumbles into a bar for his drink of the night where Ally is about to perform. She sings a song. He is completely captivated. They meet. They hit it off. They fall in love.

He convinces her that she does have what it takes to pursue a musical career. “Talent comes from everywhere,” he says. “But having something to say and a way to say it so that people listen to it, that’s a whole other bag.” He takes her under his wing and nurtures her talent – only for her to spread her wings much faster than he could have imagined and she’s soon on her way to stardom. But can he handle it?

The pairing of Gaga and Cooper is an intriguing one. It works magnificently. The popular singer gives the nuanced, unfussy performance you’d expect from a more seasoned actor. As Ally she evolves from a small-town waitress to fully-fledged star. When we first meet her, she is stripped down of any glamour… completely unrecognisable with no make-up or frills, just an ordinary woman, pragmatic enough to have abandoned her ambitions of making it in the big leagues. She exudes warmth and honesty in her performance. “They liked the way I sounded… but they didn’t like the way I look,” she comments ironically at one point.

Of course they liked the way she sounded! Only 10 minutes in and she is delighting the patrons at a drag bar – and us – with a full-throated, raw and emotional rendition of the seminal La Vie en Rose. Throughout the movie Gaga performs many of the original songs written for the film by herself, Cooper and other artists. Heaping praise on her for her singing is superfluous, but her performance deserves every bit of it. No wonder there already is plenty of Oscar talk.

There is Oscar talk too for Cooper. Just not for his performance. Granted, he draws an accurate and empathetic portrait of an artist on the wane, with his slightly unkempt appearance, eyes bleary due to his constant diet of alcohol and pills. This is a man pulled back from the abyss of despair by the love of this woman who so unexpectedly enters his life; but one who still has demons to battle. It is possibly his most mature performance to date. Yet Cooper lets Gaga take the limelight in front of the camera. He gets to shine behind it.

He excels in the director’s chair. In a brave, ambitious and wholly successful debut, Cooper pools together all the film’s parts into a beautiful whole – the heart-warming and occasionally heart-wrenching performances. It is a compelling retelling of the story for modern audiences (which he also co-wrote). His confidence in staging both the large-scale, concert sequences with their thumping music and huge crowds, and the quiet character scenes is first-rate.

He gracefully captures the powerful and passionate vibes between himself and Gaga as they negotiate the trials of a loving relationship tainted by Jackson’s addictions. He brings together a notable ensemble in support, most especially Sam Elliot as Jackson’s brother Bobby, a man who admires and begrudges his brother’s career in equal measure.

Ambitious in scope and intimate in execution, it’s a film from which two stars are in fact born – Gaga the dramatic actor and Cooper the director. And I can’t wait to see what either will do next within those roles.

Also showing

Night School (12A): A group of troublemakers are forced to attend night school in hope that they will pass the GED exam to finish high school.

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