A Star Is Born (2018): Review
*Spoilers*
Well it must be Oscar season if I am waking up with a raw, emotional wound that I suspect will fester. Seeing A Star Is Born last night left me moved and devastated. Bradley Cooper charged into my cinematic relevance in 2012 with Silver Linings Playbook and hasn’t ever left. Now he’s cemented his place there, proving he has what it takes behind the camera.
Wound? What wound, in particular? I think we’re missing everything if we don’t talk about the bleakness of addiction, here. And, while that truth is always, well…true, I feel like we all go through cycles of exposure to its potency. And, mercifully, real life has yielded little in this regard for me recently, so I thank the arts for this powerful exposure to the relentlessness of substance abuse. But it hurt, so: wound.
But addiction is gut-wrenching because it involves people. Our leads’ chemistry here is undeniable, and I often felt awkward in the theater as a spectator, soaking in their love story, from its conception to its death, in all its raw intimacy. And let’s have more Lady Gaga at the movies, OK? Yes. But I feel like I was more braced for her performance, due to the buzz-factor. But Cooper’s role as Jackson Maine will really stick with me, I think. I found his portrayal of an addict, who is always on the brink of destruction, to be as charming as it was sad.
While we’re talking about sad, I feel like a criticism I will hear about this film is its melodrama. And don’t get me wrong, melodrama can be the worst, especially when it’s gratuitous. And we have some of it here. And the rewatch (when I’m ready…) might expose even more. But, if there is a time for artistic representation of sadness, it is surrounding the themes we have in this movie: love, loss, hopelessness, regret. I didn’t feel like my heartstrings were exploited, but I am ready for people to say they felt that way, and I think that’s fair.
My favorite part of this movie was its scope. So confined, especially for a movie about pop stars. Our exposure to their backgrounds and life outside each other was so deliberately limited, that it made me trust that Cooper was giving me the purest form of the story he wanted to tell. It felt like we were getting to see a controlled science experiment in a perfectly closed system. There were still plenty of elements, but only the ones we needed to see in order to study the chemical reaction that was their relationship. What were the elements? Among others: fame, jealousy, family history, wealth, and, most importantly, substance abuse. By creating a closed system, Cooper lets his audience focus only on the aspects that actually affect the story. We don’t need to know about Ally’s mom, the girlfriends she hangs out with, Jack’s publicist, or what People Magazine says about their relationship.
And the ending. Why does Jack’s despair triumph? Some might muse that Ally’s manager, Rez, convinced him that Ally was better off without him, but that would be pretty off-base, I feel. I think Ally’s feelings were some of the farthest things from his mind. I think he knew how devoted she was to him, and he didn’t care how much this would wreck her. Rather, he saw two roads before him. 1. He drinks/uses again and again, trapping his loved ones, Ally in particular, in a cycle of anger, fear, and pain. 2. He never has another drink again which, from what I hear, is a notion that has caused many an addict to give up.
His brother Bobby, pretty confidently, lays the blame exclusively at Jack’s feet. Was he just trying to stifle Ally’s feelings of guilt? Does he know something we don’t about the messiness of addiction, depression, and suicide? I don’t know. Regardless, it’s a brutal accusation and I’m not sure it gave Ally the comfort she wanted at that moment.
9/10 for me, for writing, acting and directing. The first hour, while so exhilarating the first time, will be hard to watch next time (I’m not ready yet, stop pushing me). And let’s get Cooper behind the camera again as soon as possible.
Check out what else is on my 2018 Awards Season Watchlist.
