An octave contains 12 notes that repeat over and over, and since the beginning of time, artists have tinkered and rearranged them to create their own voice, their own mark. Much in the same way, with the two hours, 20 minutes moviegoers allot him, Bradley Cooper delivers a masterful cinematic ballad in his first directing foray.
“A Star is Born” tells the story of rock star Jackson Maine (Bradley Cooper) who falls in love with budding artist Ally (Lady Gaga). Their relationship crescendos magnanimously in stellar musical performances and a well-constructed romantic chorus. The main tension of the film is Jackson’s battle with alcoholism and drug addiction while Ally eclipses his stardom in becoming a global phenomenon. It’s a tension that’s as beautiful as it is tragic, as glorifying of an older age as it is prophetic.
As a piece of filmmaking, “A Star Is Born” carries a pleasant tune. The pace keeps a steady beat remaining consistent in tone throughout. Cooper also capably uses a star-studded cast without distracting from the central love story — not an easy feat considering this means limiting the roles of the talented Dave Chappelle and Sam Elliott. It’s also helpful that this love story is carried by chemistry between Cooper and Lady Gaga that is charming, evident, and welcoming. The movie, through edge lighting and halo effects, delivers the intimacy we hope for in our concerts — those moments where the music is filling and swelling, where we are left only with their words and our artist delivering them.
The themes of “A Star Is Born” are important and as applicable to modernity as ever.
A large portion of the film focuses on addiction. The story in some ways parallels the recent Internet vitriol that came down upon Ariana Grande as if she were to blame for the addiction and ultimate suicide of her ex-boyfriend Mac Miller. The movie engages this theme in a way respectful of the real difficulty of overcoming alcoholism and drug addition, Lady Gaga at one point properly calling it “a disease.” Sam Elliott, playing Jackson’s brother, counsels the important, but often unsaid, message that no one is responsible for the affliction of the addicted but the addicted themselves.
Along a similar vein, body image and the lasting power of our impression on this Earth are prevalent themes. Lady Gaga, while timid and shy in the movie, notes in interviews that agents told her she’d never be successful in the music industry without a nose job. Her rejection of this criticism gets some play in the film with the help of her discovery of what her voice means rather than the product she puts on display. It’s a note that audience members and society at large mull over and will continue to contemplate as we reckon with social media and body image issues being tightly linked to self-perception and suicidal thoughts. This theme is called back to in such a way as to make us feel this adaptation of “A Star Is Born” is deeply personal to Lady Gaga.
“A Star Is Born” is about Ally rising because she had something to say and someone at the right time with the right means to pluck her out of obscurity. But deeper than that, without fame, without fortune, there is something for each of us. We have this life, these ivory keys, in front of us, and only we can write a musical that will be forever unique for the ages if we simply choose to fight our demons and begin to play.
Tyler Grant (@The_Tyler_Grant) is a Young Voices contributor, who completed a Fulbright Fellowship in Taiwan. He writes movie reviews for the Washington Examiner.
