Reviews

Movie Review: Maestro

One-liner: Impassioned co-lead performances, vivid visuals and biographical intrigue entice in this otherwise distant, distracted and overlong music biopic.

Maestro is mostly black-and-white biographical music drama based on the lifelong relationship between conductor-composer Leonard Bernstein and actress Felicia Montealegre Cohn Bernstein. Based on Leonard Bernstein’s genius with the maestro front and centre, the film transforms into a marriage portrait. Starting with Bradley Cooper in a strong lead performance as Leonard Bernstein, there’s a shift of weight as Carey Mulligan’s supporting performance rises and rises in prominence to the point of co-lead.

Directed by Bradley Cooper, who co-wrote the screenplay with Josh Singer, this prestige drama was aiming for Academy Award recognition and bagged 7 Oscar nominations in the process. A handsomely mounted biopic, it’s curious to note that when a subject’s life doesn’t have a pivotal moment or chapter, the focus typically softens to encompass significant others as is the case with Maestro and films like Hitchcock.

As beautiful as it is, Maestro is an actor’s showcase with Cooper and Mulligan getting ample screen time and close-ups to excel. Having committed to years of preparation for the role and film itself, Cooper is comfortable with the character… taking on a more serious performance to keep the A Star is Born momentum with another Oscar nod. Having picked up bit parts and voice work over the last 5 years, Maestro has been his real focus and it shows.

Starring opposite him is Mulligan, whose consistency and dedication shines through in all of her performances. Having built a strong reputation after a breakthrough turn in An Education, the consummate professional landed her second Oscar nomination for Promising Young Woman and is knocking on the door once again with Maestro.

maestro film

“Here’s looking at us, kids.”

What makes the arrival of Maestro even more fascinating is that it follows in the wake of Tar, a fictional biopic about a predatory conductor starring Cate Blanchett whose character supposedly served as an understudy to Bernstein. Touching on the conductor-composer’s extramarital affairs, it becomes clear that his union with Felicia was more of a partnership and part-time façade. It’s no secret, their complex relationship was fractious, yet the nuance and tension is found in the strange loyalty and stoicism that holds them together.

The biopic is a vivid chronicle, lived by way of snapshots through their lives. Instead of a fixed storyline, continuity is established through an emotional flow across the ages as the relationship develops, affairs come and go and the chasm widens. It’s not surprising that Maestro harnesses a melancholic tone in its exploration of the flawed and seemingly doomed union.

As focussed on Cooper and Mulligan as Maestro is, there’s a poetry to the visuals, capturing a nostalgic feeling through old world design, hair, wardrobe and make up. While Cooper’s facial prosthetics came under fire, the effect is relatively seamless in the big picture not taking away from his performance. Although as good as he is in not being Bradley Cooper, it’s difficult to extract the actor from the performance. When Bernstein’s conducting and compositions filter into the soundtrack, there are several authentic sequences that recall the attention-to-detail at the heart of Bohemian Rhapsody.

The production values and performances create an immersive environment for the story to take place in. Unfortunately, the characters don’t have enough contact points to help draw empathy or favour, making this an exercise of looking in from the outside. It’s easy to appreciate Cooper and Mulligan’s efforts and talents but the emotional distance and 2.5 hour running time is felt. This is further compounded by the dialogue, which is either too subtle or simply insubstantial, unable to offer the cumulative meaning and staying power required to connect the dots. Without a sense of continuity or organic realism, scenes often seem forced to the point of contrivance.

Maestro is admirable and laden with quality ingredients but struggles to establish the kind of storytelling flow or emotional resonance necessary to secure one’s full investment. The impassioned performances do hold one’s attention in the moment and the visuals have panache but as shiny as these trinkets are, there’s a vapid undercurrent to the series of character-driven happenings. Scrambling to piece together the snapshots, perhaps the best way to watch the overlong Maestro is to let it wash over you.

The bottom line: Admirable