Maestro is a biopic about the life of conductor/composer Leonard Bernstein written/directed/produced/starring Bradley Cooper. Already get the sense that that's probably too much, you'd be right!
As a filmmaker Bradley Cooper displays little to no cinematic style, the film looks, sounds, and is structured like other better biopics/historical dramas. Cooper is pulling most clearly and directly from Spielberg and Scorsese who are both listed as producers on the movie, their influence is glaring and the comparison poor. It feels generic, derivative, and tired. It lacks any emotional insight, its characters don't feel real, and we actually learn very little about who Bernstein was or what he did other than he was gay and was in a straight marriage for much of his life. His sexuality is the focus, his marriage, not his artistry or music. And even that aspect is not really investigated, it has little nuance or insight. Its a bizarre, narrow, unfulfilling take.
Bradley Cooper the lead actor is over-the-top, in love with himself, and bafflingly uncompelling. The incoherent dialogue and stylized inflection make for a movie where it is almost always impossible to tell what is being said, meant, or happening. Carey Mulligan is wasted and there are way too many shots of her quietly pinning staring at Cooper, those shots are probably 1/4 of the run time.
The whole endeavor feels like a protracted self-indulgent undergrad scene study from a pretentious east coast acting institution.
Acutely unsatisfying.
Currently in theaters and streaming on Netflix.
Don't See It.
No comments:
Post a Comment