Love ‘em or hate ‘em, remakes and reboots are part of the cinematic landscape and they are here to stay. In many cases, remakes have had enough success at the box office to spawn their own franchises like Steven Soderberg’s Ocean’s franchise. Other times, the remakes are so bad or poorly timed that the property has to be remade yet again just to save face, like Tim Burton’s Planet of the Apes in 2001. Human beings are creatures of habit so it’s only natural that we want to see some of the same stories over and over again. However, if you’re going to remake a film that has a legacy and has already been remade twice before, you’d better bring your A-game. The latest reimagining of A Star is Born masterfully updated the narrative and cemented its place as the best film of 2018…so far.
While the plot largely focuses on the rise of Lady Gaga’s character, Ally, in a roundabout way the title of the film is more fitting for Bradley Cooper. This effort officially announced his arrival as not just one of the best actors in the business, but a seriously talented filmmaker as well…and a pretty talented singer as well. Cooper was really all-in on this project: writing, directing, producing and starring. He’s always been a solid performer but this role was easily the most fleshed out character since Silver Linings, honing in on his strengths as a charming but troubled man. Jack is, predictably, an alcoholic with a heart of gold who is just looking for someone to love, and getting involved with the screenplay certainly helped fine-tune the character and his interactions with Gaga. It’s his story as much as it’s hers and the two halves are balanced wonderfully. The quality and feel of the film are so cohesive that there were only a few hard tonal shifts and some redundancy issues to remind you that this was Cooper’s directorial debut. He’s currently leading the pack of Best Actor candidates (albeit a small list) for this heartfelt portrayal and absolutely has to be in the conversation for Best Director as well. It’s unlikely that he’ll win both those individual categories but he could very well find himself nominated, alongside writing partners Eric Roth and Will Fetters, for Best Adapted Screenplay. If that isn’t enough, he might just take home some hardware as one of the producers for this movie, which is sure to get nominated for Best Picture also. No matter the outcome at year’s end, Cooper’s stock has grown exponentially.
This movie wouldn’t have gone anywhere if Cooper and Gaga didn’t work well together but they had the best onscreen chemistry I’ve seen in years. Surely the strong dialogue went a long way in making things feel authentic, but her performance can’t be discounted. Casting her was a brilliant move by Lindsay Graham (not Lindsey Graham) and Mary Vernieu. As a result, the film boasted this powerful, synergistic energy that played on Gaga’s own career and life experience to enrich the character and the performance. As a dual-lead, she brought so much heart and attitude to a story that could have easily gone stale but having her attached to the project added a huge bonus. As a six-time Grammy winner, she brought all her musical talents to the table and wrote the majority of the original songs and performed more than half. The Academy might as well hand over the Oscar for Best Original Song right now because Shallows is going to be an incredibly tough act to follow…and that’s one more award Cooper could find himself taking home.
Matthew Libatique is an eclectic cinematographer, to say the least, working on somewhat psychedelic projects like Requiem for a Dream, Black Swan, and The Fountain. Although this wasn’t one of those kinds of films, he’s no stranger to big projects and understood how to amplify the setting in order to cultivate importance and grandeur. With a film like this, his contributions will probably get overlooked but his interior framing and lighting choices were exceptional. It’s the subtle nuance of a master craftsman that can add so much to a film while still going unnoticed. If you’re interested in his filming philosophy, you can check out his other recent work on Venom which just smashed the record for an October opening.
While the film is primarily about the two main characters, there are some other interesting elements at play. The main plot focuses on Ally’s rise to fame but there’s is a subplot that’s venomously critical of the music industry as a whole. Rafi Gavron plays Rev, a music producer who’s focused mainly on selling Ally as a product rather than helping her realize her own artistic vision. The introduction of the character creates a wedge between Ally and Jack, both as a couple and professionally as musicians. On Jack’s end, Sam Elliot plays his older brother and road manager, Bobby. The brothers have plenty of suppressed animosity towards one another surrounding their father’s death and Jack’s professional success. Both Elliot and Gavron served as looming specters in their supporting capacities, knowing these inherent problems would eventually come to fruition. Graham and Vernieu picked wisely for those roles and even found a nice home for Andrew Dice Clay playing Ally’s father, Lorenzo. He’s the quintessential Italian all the way down to his Sinatra envy and Clay had a great rapport with Gaga. He was so much fun to watch throughout the whole film and it was nice to see him anchored to a more mature, tangible character.
There was really only one character who didn’t fit. As much as I love Dave Chappelle, his character just comes out of nowhere and plays a sizeable role in shaping the relationship of the two leads only to vanish as quickly as he appeared. Chappelle delivered his monologue with heart and precision, but the introduction of George “Noodles” Stone didn’t make much sense and had no lasting effect. Jack just shows up on his doorstep one day, wasted, talks to his dear old friend (who we are just hearing about for the first time) and moves right along while poor Noodles isn’t to be seen or heard from again. It was a disservice to a good performance from the seasoned comedian and one of the few missteps in the film.
This wasn’t one of the movies I saved space for on my calendar. All the promotional material made sure to impress the film’s awards potential upon me, but there was still very little anticipation on my end. That being said, I still made time for it on opening weekend and I’m really glad. The plot is familiar and predictable, as expected…without even seeing earlier versions of this movie…but it still stands out in the face of its shortcomings. Great lead performances backed by excellent musical choices, passionate dialogue and genuine emotion elevated this film beyond its station as just another remake.
Recommendation: If you’re debating which movie to see this weekend, do yourself a favor and pick this one. This film is going to have a built-in audience with Gaga fans, but this is one that everybody should see. It is an adult film (not in a pornographic sense) but it’s not entirely off limits for kids around 13…due to substance abuse and language.