Review of A Star Is Born (2018) by Djakeir — 18 Feb 2019

A star is born seems to be a humble film about the rise of a star and the simultaneous fall of another. This humility I think has been lost in the recent award season but whether or not this film deserves oscars or not, proably the former in my opinion, the film still has positives and negatives. Lady Gaga is a tremendous talent and excels as her role which she clealry has some emotional connection to. She delivers dialogue and emotions earnestly and is able to convey emotions proportional to on screen events. Lady Gaga only offers to lift this movie up with her unavoidable star presence.

Bradley Cooper is a very likeable actor, he has had an accomplished career as an actor so far and his performances aren't always versatile but are consistently good. Here Bradley portarys a complex character with previous and existing issues. His acting of his characters' addiciton was more believable and effective in some scenes more so than others. He was at times overshadowed by his famous co-star but I do believe Bradley Cooper held his own and played a role that no one could easily have taken. His job as a director was solid, the directing didn't hinder the movie but its hard to think of any times where it excelled, which isn't too bad a criticism for a directorial debut, but I have seen better debuts by actors (Paul Dano's Wildlife).

The soudtrack was really good, again an area where Lady Gaga came through. Bradley Cooper has to be commended for his contributions to this soundtrack however it is obvious his acting is where his comforts lie. The storyline was ok but it was obvious how this movie was going to progress. This movie tries to tackle difficult themes and for the most part it managed to do so effectively. However, I do think that certain issues, especially the one related to the conclusion of this movie was a bit awkward. The movie seems to be clunky in the sense that half way into the movie they realise they need to start preparing for how its going to end. This results in a drastic change in mood that whilst creates a feeling of dread in the audiene it also feels like an uncomfortable attempt to depress them also. This may have been the goal of the film but then again you could have shown a short film of histroical tragedies which would require little effort on behalf of the film maker to elicit the same feeling. A more creative way to show the downfall of a perons life would have been more relatable and would have created a deeper feeling of sorrow in the audience rather than just a depressing afternoon.