Maestro

Nominated for: Picture, Lead Actor (Bradley Cooper), Lead Actress (Carey Mulligan), Original Screenplay, Cinematography, Makeup/Hairstyling, Sound

IMDB Summary: This love story chronicles the lifelong relationship of conductor-composer Leonard Bernstein and actress Felicia Montealegre Cohn Bernstein. 

Here we are. The traditional, old Hollywood biopic that the Oscars LOVE to love. It's the classic cinematic celebration of one of entertainment's great names that tries to sell a new take on the biography. And it tries really, really hard. And for me, failed. 

I'm not quite sure what direction I thought this film would go. Scratch that. I knew exactly where this was going: a 2 hour spotlight performance written and directed by Bradley Cooper to make the most recent plea for an Oscar for Bradley Cooper. Long story short, that is what this movie is - gear up for a lot of Bradley Cooper screentime, prosthetic nose, staunch New England accent, constant smoking, and wild arm gestures. Short story long, the focus of the script is less on Bernstein's public music career and compositions and more on his personal relationships and family. 

Let me just get this out of the way to start - Bradley Cooper was trying way too hard in this role. Look, he's a good actor with range. He's had some great comedic performances ("Hangover", "Guardians of the Galaxy"), interesting dramatic roles ("Nightmare Alley", "A Star is Born"), and is a hidden gem on the TV show "Alias". But this role was far to much imitation rather than imagination or original performance. Given this is a movie about a conductor, I can't escape the comparison to "Tar" from last year's nominee group, a movie which I surprisingly enjoyed. Cate Blanchett's performance in that movie was so captivating and unpredictable with a bit of mystery that it was hard to tear your eyes off of her. In contrast, Cooper's performance is predictable, repetitive, and to be quite frank here, annoying at times. He's nominated because it's a biopic performance with heavy prosthetics, but other than that, I didn't find anything super special about his portrayal of the Bernstein character. 

Carey Mulligan on the other hand...she saves this movie. Single handedly. She plays Bernstein's wife, who is a far more intriguing character that respectfully beckons your attention. When the story shifts to focus on her character's plight, I paid attention. This is where the emotion and connection with the characters and story really take hold. Her role definitely doesn't start off that way - it toed the line of being the traditional discarded wife behind the tortured genius. About halfway through, her character takes a turn and finds her own footing aside from Bernstein's facade. She's fabulous, especially towards the film's conclusion and is deserved of her nomination. 

I'm usually one to scoff at makeup and hairstyling nominations for films with heavy prosthetics, which this film has, but there is some flawless makeup work outside of the obvious fake nose on Cooper's face. Cooper and Mulligan portray their characters at various ages and the work that went into making them both look 20+ years older than their actual age was incredibly realistic. Skin textures, wrinkles, deep facial folds and lines, and even hands and arms appeared age-worn. I'll give this team a solid pat on the back for this work. Minus the nose. 

As for the screenplay nomination - I'm going to solidly state this is not even close to the best original screenplay. There were some different (I can't go so far as to say unique or clever) camera angles used, but again, nothing special in the cinematography lane. And for sound, it's a film about a music conductor/composer, there's going to be some sweeping orchestrations and grand expressions of sound. It's a fine nomination, but I highly doubt it will be the best of the bunch.

Overall, this movie was ok. It's a stereotypical male-centered biopic that really strives to be so much deeper than that. If it is, I missed it. Probably because I had to take visual breaks from Cooper's performance, opting instead to read up on the latest drama from last night's basketball game. Seriously, I was more invested in random people's Twitter ramblings than in the majority of this movie. But, maybe this is a minority opinion. 

Streaming on Netflix.