A Star Is Born (2018)

I have a fairly large collection of movies. Not nearly as big as some I’ve seen on the internet, but definitely over 100. It may sound weird, but I’ve not watched all of them at the time of writing this. I have plans to watch them, but that’ll happen when it happens. I think this movie was one of the first ones I bought and never watched for a long time. I remember buying it at Target because I had heard great things about it. It was up for a number of awards and everyone praised the music. However, I never got around to watching it. This wasn’t for any reason in particular. It just didn’t happen. Honestly, this movie was a minor inspiration for me starting this blog. I wanted a reason to watch this and all the other movies I hadn’t watched yet. I knew this would be the one I watch after finishing all the Fast & Furious movies.

Released in 2018, A Star Is Born is the third remake of the original 1937 film, having been remade previously in 1954 and 1976. After performing a show, famous country rock musician Jackson “Jack” Maine (Bradley Cooper), privately struggling with an addiction to drugs and alcohol, has his driver drive until they find a bar. Jack goes into the first one he sees and watches a performance by a young woman named Ally (Lady Gaga). Jack is immediately infatuated by Ally and her talent. Jack meets her and ensures her that she’s an incredibly talented singer and songwriter. From this point, Jack and Ally begin a romantic relationship as Jack helps cultivate Ally’s music career.

I’m not going to start gushing over how good this movie is and how everyone needs to see it. There are only a small handful of movies for which I’ll do that. However, this is a fantastic movie to watch. Between the acting, music, and story, I would say this movie deserved all the praise it got upon its release. Most people might think this movie will focus on being a musical. While the music is a major highlight, the focus of the movie is on the story, specifically the romance between Jack and Ally. It’s an honest-to-God love story with the music thrown in as a vehicle for Jack and Ally’s romance. You really feel the love they have for each other as you watch the movie. Much of their relationship may feel rushed and impromptu, but they love each other all the same. No matter what happens in the story, they stay together. They show how love can have its ups and downs, but its worth working towards in the end.

With this and other things, A Star Is Born doesn’t necessarily go where you think it will like in similar movies. That’s one of the things I like especially about this movie. If this were like a number of other movies I’ve seen, Jack and Ally might have broken up at some point. Maybe Ally would’ve left Jack after he goes into rehab. Jack might’ve tried to sabotage Ally’s career out of jealousy. None of these things happen. While we do see Jack get jealous of her success, we only see him lash out one time. For the rest of the movie, he actively does what he can to support and encourage her. With Ally, you never really doubt that she loves Jack unconditionally. Even when he publicly embarrasses her in an intoxicated state, she works to make sure he gets better. I feel like any other movie would’ve tried to have their relationship be this torrid love affair where they care for each other, but they’re not meant to be. With A Star Is Born, we see how true love isn’t always easy. However, it’s worth maintaining and can’t just be thrown away if things get difficult.

In addition to the love story, the overall plot is pretty solid, as well. It becomes obvious early on that Ally is the titular star being born. As you watch her career start to grow, you start to see how Jack’s career goes in the opposite direction. As Ally starts to book tours and get recognized, Jack starts to get passed on for younger artists and people stop trying to take his picture. While this is a pretty common trope, what’s less common is seeing how Ally doesn’t let the fame and recognition change her. She doesn’t embrace the rock star lifestyle when she tours with Jack, and she doesn’t let her manager and record label dictate her personal life. Not only that, she actively refuses to do what her manager says if it means it could hurt her relationship with Jack. These are more ways where the story doesn’t go where you think it will. It doesn’t rely on typical tropes and tells the story it wants to tell.

It’s impossible to talk about Jack and Ally without talking about Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga. Both of them knock it out of the park with their performances, especially Lady Gaga. While this isn’t her first acting credit, it is her first major lead role. Likely drawing from her own experience trying to make it in the music industry, she brings so much life to Ally through all the stages of her career. She shows how constant rejection has caused Ally to doubt her talent. Once Jack helps her embrace her talent, she’s able to exceed her own expectations. For his part, Bradley Cooper excels as this addicted rock star struggling with his inner demons. Throughout the movie, Jack almost always seems to have his head drooped down, never quite looking up. It’s like Jack is constantly weighted down by his past and the pressure he feels as a famous musician. I saw a list of actors that were previously considered for the role. I’m not sure any of them could’ve done the character justice like Bradley Cooper did. Both he and Lady Gaga deserved their nominations for Best Actor and Actress at the Academy Awards.

Not only does Bradley Cooper give an excellent performance, he shows his abilities as a director in his directorial debut. Most notably, he uses the camera in a way that makes you feel like you’re on stage. Whenever Jack or Ally are performing, the camera faces them from the stage, rather than from the audience. You’re always watching the performance as if you’re there with them. In a way, it makes you feel closer to the characters. You feel like their fans don’t really know them at all, which is usually the case in real life. Even though you never see them from the audience’s perspective, there are times where you feel like the crazy fans. For the vast majority of the shots between Jack and Ally, and the rest of the characters for that matter, the camera is right up on their faces. Most of them are these close-up shots that almost feel intrusive. It’s like we’re those crazy fans always trying to get in their business. At the same time, this does make you feel closer to them, more so than actual crazy fans. This goes to show Bradley Cooper’s great talent as a director. He’s able to evoke multiple feelings just by using the camera in different and specific ways.

I may have said the music wasn’t the focus of the movie, but that doesn’t mean it’s not a major feature that stands out. This movie would be a travesty if they didn’t put effort into the songs they featured. The big hit form this movie is the song “Shallow”, performed by Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga. It’s a beautiful song that has both Jack and Ally questioning the other about why they do what they do. However, I would say my favorite song from the movie is the one we hear in the final scene. Ally sings “I’ll Never Love Again”, a love song Jack wrote for her. It’s a beautiful song that perfectly captures the love that Jack and Ally have for each other. It isn’t just these two songs that stand out in the film. Several times, we hear Lady Gaga’s incredible vocal talent, as well as Bradley Cooper’s impressive singing ability. Since they’re actually the ones singing, these moments are made even better. To be fair, I don’t see how you can have Lady Gaga in a movie like this and not have her be the one singing.

When this movie was released, it got all kinds of praise and was up for several awards, including Best Picture and seven others at the Academy Awards. It certainly deserves all the praise it’s gotten. At the same time, I wouldn’t classify this movie as a landmark in the history of film. I wasn’t necessarily blown away after watching this for the first time. For as much as the story doesn’t go the direction you think it might, that doesn’t mean you can’t predict what’s going to happen. A lot of the usual conflicts you might expect to be in a movie like this are there, just not some of the others. Plus, the story has some elements that aren’t really fleshed out or used. There’s a minor plot point about Jack dealing with tinnitus. It’s brought up a couple times, but we don’t see anything happen to Jack as a result of this. If it hadn’t been brought up at all, nothing would really change in the story. Not only that, but Jack and Ally’s relationship just seems to kind of happen. Yeah, they love each other unconditionally, but we don’t really get to know why. We might infer that Ally loves him because he got her to embrace and use her talent, but that isn’t stated clearly. Don’t get me wrong, I still love their relationship. However, it mostly happens because it’s supposed to happen.

I watched most of the Academy Awards broadcast in 2019. For whatever reason, I stopped watching at a certain point. Either I had to be up early the next day, or I just got bored with it. Whatever it was, I’m still mad at myself for not sticking around until Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga performed “Shallow”. I heard about it the next day and watched it not long after. It was such a beautiful performance. The camera moves around the stage the same way it does in the movie, towards the audience. The two of them give a performance virtually the same as you would hear it in the movie or on the soundtrack. Apparently, some people started to suspect Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga were actually in a relationship based on their performance. I watched a late night talk show clip of Lady Gaga basically saying that was ridiculous. Not necessarily because it’s ridiculous that the two of them would be together, but just that people aren’t always able to separate what they see on screen from reality. The two of them were acting during that performance. If it seemed like the two of them were actually in love, then they accomplished their goal.

This may not be a history making film that everyone will be talking about 100 years from now. However, that doesn’t take away from just how beautiful it is. The music is great, the performances are spectacular, and the love story shown on screen makes you believe there’s true love in the world. All of the credit for this movie’s success goes directly to Bradley Cooper for his direction, writing, and performance and to Lady Gaga for her incredible singing, songwriting, and acting. While there are plenty of other great performances and cameos, the two leads are the main draw for this movie. This is a must see for anyone who loves movies about great music and has great music. I could see myself watching this movie if I were ever looking through my collection for something to watch. While it may be far from perfect, it’s worth keeping in the rotation.