WE'RE FAR FROM THE SHALLOW NOW
That song has now been on repeat for the past two weeks since I saw the film.
Now the fourth time this film has been remade (third time in Hollywood), A Star is Born stars Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga, in her big screen debut.
Also making a debut is Cooper in the director's seat.
The movie tells the story about a very famous but troubled country rock singer named Jackson Maine (Cooper), who seeks refuge in alcoholism and substance abuse to fight his inner demons.
At the end of his road with pretty much no direction to go, he stumbles upon the very talented but shy and insecure waitress-by-day, singer-by-night Ally (Gaga), and from there, a budding romance as well as working relationship begin to take off.
It's a very simple premise, and one we've heard and seen many times before in previous remakes and in movies with similar storylines/themes, particularly movies like The Bodyguard (1992) which I'll dive into more detail about later.
As a movie that has been remade four times now, it feels remarkably fresh.
Of course, brand new original music plays a huge role in that but there's something else in the creative department - and that 'something else' is Bradley Cooper in the director's chair.
My word, is that man talented. Having already established himself as an extremely versatile leading man in Hollywood, he now takes on directing like a duck to water, and it's the first movie he's directed!
He can act, he can sing and now he can direct. What can the man not do?
The same if not more must be said of the incredible Lady Gaga. Already a successful music artist out of her own merit, she's now proven herself as a very talented actress as well. Like Cooper as a director, she's taken her first leading role on the big screen and made it her own.
The duo also share some terrific on-screen chemistry that felt so natural, and every scene they shared together felt as if you were there watching them have those conversations in the flesh. That is perhaps one of the best compliments one can give when it comes to acting - making a scene feel so natural and real that it doesn't feel staged.
They even wrote some of their songs together. Truly remarkable.
I can gush about how good Cooper and Gaga were all day, but I can't forget about the rest of the cast, because they too did a really good job.
In particular, Sam Elliott, who plays Cooper's older brother and father-figure in the movie was pretty brilliant. His role wasn't by any means large but for the scenes he was involved in, he was pretty great.
He brought a very interesting sense of subtlety to his role - an understated yet super effective performance which truly brought out what his character was going through and how he was dealing with it inside.
There's a scene in particular where no words are spoken from him. Just plain, simple non-verbal acting. You'll know it when you see it.
Other characters include Noodles (Dave Chappelle), Ally's dad (Andrew Dice Clay) and Ally's manager Rez (Rafi Gavron) - all of whom did a really good job.
On a more technical note, I really liked how Cooper went for a deliberate indie movie-like feel to the whole picture which made the film feel more grounded and down-to-earth rather than bombastic and over-the-top like many Hollywood productions.
The cinematography is lovely, with nice touches of symmetric imagery, sleek wide shots plus some very nice bits of blink-and-you'll-miss-it foreshadowing scattered in the backgrounds of some shots.
The music needs no further mention. It's brilliant. The Oscar for Best Original Music is pretty much in the bag already. Tracks like 'Shallow', 'Maybe it's Time' and especially 'I'll Never Love Again' all have much deeper meaning once you see the movie, and you'll recall the scenes every time you listen to the tracks.
As for comparisons to 1992's The Bodyguard, much of the parallels are in the style of the music. Whitney Houston was the star of that film and the soundtrack (containing classics like 'I Will Always Love You' and 'I Have Nothing') very evidently inspired the music of A Star is Born, especially the track 'I'll Never Love Again'.
The rest of that movie wasn't all very good, so I'm glad that Cooper and co. were took inspiration from all the right areas of that movie.
On to the negatives, and sadly there are just a couple.
The movie does wander off a bit in the second half as Ally's budding career begins to take off. The interchanging between the two narratives of the separate lives and stories of the two leads ends up becoming quite abrupt and as a result, affects the pacing of the movie.
Certain scenes also feel as though they were cut short before the whole story of those particular scenes were concluded, leaving the audience having to assume the outcome of that scene and how it affects certain characters or circumstances.
One particular example of this is when there are scenes where a period of time passes by but the scene doesn't specify that it does. Suddenly, we end up in a place ahead of where we left off and it feels abrupt and leaves the audience confused at times.
And that's about it.
All in all, A Star is Born was an obvious passion project for Bradley Cooper, evident by the amount of heart and soul that you can feel in abundance when you watch the movie, and that's high praise indeed.
For his first time directing, it feels as though he's been directing for decades. Clearly he learned his craft well from the many established and legendary directors and filmmakers he's acted for prior, such as Clint Eastwood, David O. Russell and Todd Phillips, just to name a few.
There are nice twists here and there which keep the old story fresh, the new music is terrific, the performances are Oscar-worthy to say the least, and the revelation of Lady Gaga as an excellent actress is just brilliant.
Go see it before it finishes its cinematic run.
8.5/10.
As a movie that has been remade four times now, it feels remarkably fresh.
Of course, brand new original music plays a huge role in that but there's something else in the creative department - and that 'something else' is Bradley Cooper in the director's chair.
My word, is that man talented. Having already established himself as an extremely versatile leading man in Hollywood, he now takes on directing like a duck to water, and it's the first movie he's directed!
He can act, he can sing and now he can direct. What can the man not do?
The same if not more must be said of the incredible Lady Gaga. Already a successful music artist out of her own merit, she's now proven herself as a very talented actress as well. Like Cooper as a director, she's taken her first leading role on the big screen and made it her own.
The duo also share some terrific on-screen chemistry that felt so natural, and every scene they shared together felt as if you were there watching them have those conversations in the flesh. That is perhaps one of the best compliments one can give when it comes to acting - making a scene feel so natural and real that it doesn't feel staged.
They even wrote some of their songs together. Truly remarkable.
I can gush about how good Cooper and Gaga were all day, but I can't forget about the rest of the cast, because they too did a really good job.
In particular, Sam Elliott, who plays Cooper's older brother and father-figure in the movie was pretty brilliant. His role wasn't by any means large but for the scenes he was involved in, he was pretty great.
He brought a very interesting sense of subtlety to his role - an understated yet super effective performance which truly brought out what his character was going through and how he was dealing with it inside.
There's a scene in particular where no words are spoken from him. Just plain, simple non-verbal acting. You'll know it when you see it.
Other characters include Noodles (Dave Chappelle), Ally's dad (Andrew Dice Clay) and Ally's manager Rez (Rafi Gavron) - all of whom did a really good job.
On a more technical note, I really liked how Cooper went for a deliberate indie movie-like feel to the whole picture which made the film feel more grounded and down-to-earth rather than bombastic and over-the-top like many Hollywood productions.
The cinematography is lovely, with nice touches of symmetric imagery, sleek wide shots plus some very nice bits of blink-and-you'll-miss-it foreshadowing scattered in the backgrounds of some shots.
The music needs no further mention. It's brilliant. The Oscar for Best Original Music is pretty much in the bag already. Tracks like 'Shallow', 'Maybe it's Time' and especially 'I'll Never Love Again' all have much deeper meaning once you see the movie, and you'll recall the scenes every time you listen to the tracks.
As for comparisons to 1992's The Bodyguard, much of the parallels are in the style of the music. Whitney Houston was the star of that film and the soundtrack (containing classics like 'I Will Always Love You' and 'I Have Nothing') very evidently inspired the music of A Star is Born, especially the track 'I'll Never Love Again'.
The rest of that movie wasn't all very good, so I'm glad that Cooper and co. were took inspiration from all the right areas of that movie.
On to the negatives, and sadly there are just a couple.
The movie does wander off a bit in the second half as Ally's budding career begins to take off. The interchanging between the two narratives of the separate lives and stories of the two leads ends up becoming quite abrupt and as a result, affects the pacing of the movie.
Certain scenes also feel as though they were cut short before the whole story of those particular scenes were concluded, leaving the audience having to assume the outcome of that scene and how it affects certain characters or circumstances.
One particular example of this is when there are scenes where a period of time passes by but the scene doesn't specify that it does. Suddenly, we end up in a place ahead of where we left off and it feels abrupt and leaves the audience confused at times.
And that's about it.
All in all, A Star is Born was an obvious passion project for Bradley Cooper, evident by the amount of heart and soul that you can feel in abundance when you watch the movie, and that's high praise indeed.
For his first time directing, it feels as though he's been directing for decades. Clearly he learned his craft well from the many established and legendary directors and filmmakers he's acted for prior, such as Clint Eastwood, David O. Russell and Todd Phillips, just to name a few.
There are nice twists here and there which keep the old story fresh, the new music is terrific, the performances are Oscar-worthy to say the least, and the revelation of Lady Gaga as an excellent actress is just brilliant.
Go see it before it finishes its cinematic run.
8.5/10.
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