I approached writing this with the question "how would I compose a film about one of the most televised conductor/composers of all time?". If not for this question I may have scored this lower, as my gut feeling (given my background in classical music and growing up with Bernstein's compositions and recordings) coming out of the film was wanting more exploration of 1. Bernstein's relationships with his wife and children and 2. Bernstein's musical genius (may that be more performances or compositions) to see more actively his musical process. However, given both the runtime and, by asking myself the aforementioned question, better recalibrating myself to the context that Bernstein shared so much about his mind and his music genius through his writings, televised performances and lectures, I can see that the film can be given some leeway. That said, I feel that viewers should first go an understand Bernstein's music before going into this film to better appreciate the human element so powerfully portrayed by the cast.
Carey Mulligan steals the show that made me emphasize with her so much that it made it conversely difficult to emphasize enough with Bradley Cooper's version of Lenny; the portrayals of subtle and loud emotions, with so many cuts to just Mulligan's face was, often with so few words, sublime. The camera work was excellent in this regard as well and overall, framing the warm, tense and cathartic moments very well. All of this, however, makes Lenny's feelings toward Felicia seem less authentic than what I assume was intended. Cooper did a very good job with the key scenes (the start/end reflecting on the two's relationship) and a few in between, but against the backdrop of his affairs, especially how they were portrayed, made me feel like Lenny's actions were more calculating/cold than warm in some key scenes.
To this end I think this film, while material wise didn't choose to tackle too many themes, still went about a complex relationship concerning a man who has a compelling and nearly as complex relationship with his various identities, in a way where I can see on paper (such as the act structure) made logical sense but the emotional execution was not enough where ultimately key points in the relationships shown fall flatter than expected. Not enough exploration was given toward Lenny's internal differences as a composer and conductor and similarly with his deeper relationship with his own homosexuality that are necessary pieces to better understand Lenny's relationship with Felicia properly.
I have not seen a Star is Born but I see the promise of Bradley Cooper's filmmaking future. That said, the concepts tackled by this film were ultimately too large to materialize. But then again, how would you go about it then?
