“Maestro”… a charming performance, a reeling plot, and a debate over the complex nose
I liked the directing game of American actor Bradley Cooper. After the resounding success of his first cinematic directorial experience in the movie “A Star is Born,” alongside “Lady Gaga” in 2018, he is back as a producer, writer, director, and actor in the movie “Maestro,” which is being shown on the Netflix platform.
Cooper is supported by an army of producers, led by two famous names in the world of cinema, Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg. The film, to which the audience gave a standing ovation for 7 minutes after its premiere at the Venice Film Festival last September, presents part of the biography of the American orchestra conductor and composer Leonard Bernstein, whose role Cooper plays passionately.
Along with his renewed flair for directing, Cooper is once again turning to music-related stories. In several parts of it, especially in its first section, the film oscillates between “drama” and “musical.” It makes sense, since the story revolves around one of the most important figures in the world of American music; Bernstein, who brought classical music closer to the younger generations, engraved his name on several achievements, the forefront of which was the musical “West Side Story.”
In parallel with his genius, fame, and popularity, Bernstein’s private life was marred by contradictions. He is the maestro who loves lights, and he is the author who loves shadows. But the most important angle that the film focuses on is his exceptional relationship with his wife, Felicia Montealegre, which lasted 32 years. Without being a submissive woman, Felicia embraced Leonard’s psychological struggles and lived with his bisexual identity. In exchange for their unique and solid love story, Bernstein did not hide his homosexuality and his multiple relationships with men.
Poster for the movie “Maestro” showing on Netflix
This topic takes up a fundamental part of the film and tests the strength of the relationship between the “Maestro” and his wife. In this context, actress Carey Mulligan delivers a charming performance, moving smoothly between the characters of the loving wife, the realistic woman, and the angry, domineering one, all the way to the weak person overcome by illness.
With the characters she embodies and her more than convincing performance, Mulligan forms the backbone of the film. It gives it its human and emotional depth, far from the glamor of theaters and musical performances. She is not only a partner in the story, but an actress who almost competes with Bradley Cooper for the top spot on the screen and precedes him in the hearts of viewers. Events move according to the development of her feelings and attitudes. The features of the story do not become clear and its events accelerate until after Felicia’s silent struggle and her jealousy over her husband become clear. Once this disagreement emerges and the confrontation between the spouses begins, a general feeling prevails as if the film has just begun, that is, an hour after its slow and narratively incoherent start.
Actress Carey Mulligan delivers a distinctive performance that earned her a nomination for the Golden Globe Awards (Netflix)
The impression may prevail that the film is classic, elitist, and directed exclusively to an audience interested in the biography of the musician Bernstein, but the human elements in the story come to alleviate the burden of elitism. However, these human details are not invested properly and sufficiently, so the narrative seems hollow, lacking a solid context and a clear foundation. Despite Bernstein’s thorny life, the dramatic treatment remains marginal and superficial, especially in the first section of the film. There is no clear or even problematic plot, but rather an intermittent and heterogeneous structure of separate artistic and personal events in the lives of the duo, Leonard and Felicia.
Bradley Cooper does not claim to have covered all the stages of Bernstein’s life, but that did not exempt him from criticism, in that he did not shed enough light on essential parts of the biography. One of the most prominent things that the film marginalizes is the “Maestro’s” Jewish background, as allusions to it are limited to a fleeting scene in which one of Bernstein’s friends suggests that he change his name, so that he may appear less Jewish and be able to become “the greatest and first American conductor.”
“Maestro” is Cooper’s second directorial experience after “A Star is Born” (Netflix).
Although this part remained marginal, prominent members of the American Jewish community were dismayed by Leonard Bernstein’s complex, protruding nose. They accused Cooper of mocking “Jewface.” While Cooper denied that this was intentional, he stressed that he and the work team did everything in their power to obtain the version that was closest and most similar to Bernstein. It must be admitted that they succeeded in this.
Behind this success is Oscar-winning makeup and special effects specialist Kazuo Hiro. From the first scene, Bradley Cooper’s appearance is a shock to the eye, and it is difficult to believe that he is this old man with white hair and tired features, sitting in tears behind the piano. According to Hero, this transformation into Cooper’s form took 5 hours to complete.
Bradley Cooper’s makeup took 5 hours by artist Kazuo Hiro (Netflix)
The film follows the rhythm of flashback, moving from black and white to color. The viewer thus accompanies Leonard and Felicia in their various stages of life, between 1943 and the late 1980s. While the events begin in black and white at a fateful moment in Bernstein’s career when he was 25 years old, human feelings reach their peak in the final section of the film, amid a rising performance by the two heroes.
It is not surprising, then, that “Maestro” was nominated for a group of international cinema awards, most notably 4 nominations for the Golden Globe Awards in the categories: Best Actor, Actress, Drama, and Directing.
2023-12-23 13:28:03
#rare #stiff #person #syndrome
