Best Pictures #53:
2018 Academy Awards Best Picture Nominee
“We’re Far From the Shallow Now”
I was skeptical when I saw the trailer for A Star is Born; it seemed like just a big budget vanity
project for Bradley Cooper who stars, co-writes, directs, and sings. When I
finally saw A Star is Born, I was
more than pleasantly surprised. Before the credits rolled, this film had me so thoroughly entertained and moved, I knew this was the kind of experience I
hope to have (and so rarely get) when I go to the movies.
This is the fourth version of A Star is Born. The previous versions were made in 1937 with Janet Gaynor and Fredric March, 1954 with Judy Garland and James Mason, and 1976 with Barbra Streisand and Kris Kristofferson. In 2018, Bradley Cooper plays Jackson
Maine, an alt-country singer-songwriter who can still pack auditoriums but is
deep into alcoholism and substance abuse. One night, at what Jackson is too
drunk to realize is a drag bar, he meets a talented young waitress and singer
named Ally played by Lady Gaga. He immediately recognizes her talent, invites
her to his next concert, drags her out on stage to sing the song she sang for
him the night before, and overnight, yes, a star is born.
The music in A Star is
Born is good enough to justify the success of the fictional musicians. Jackson
Maine’s songs are just the right blend of country and rock to have mass appeal.
The break out hit from the soundtrack is “Shallow” sung by both Lady Gaga and
Bradley Cooper. It would be a complete and utter shock if it did not win the
Oscar for Best Original Song. As a performer, Lady Gaga is famous for her over
the top and outlandish theatrics that for me always distracted
from her voice and music, which I quite enjoy. Here, her voice and skills as a
songwriter are front and center. As an actress, she, unsurprisingly, has a
great screen presence and proves that she is not just a musician trying to be a movie star.
She is the emotional center of A Star is
Born. We believe and never question her love and
loyalty for Jackson despite his alcoholism. Lady Gaga's nomination for Best Actress is well earned.
Bradley Cooper plays one of the most believable
drunks I’ve seen on screen. When playing an alcoholic any actor or actress has the
temptation to go for big showy scenes of sloppy behavior. Cooper, wisely, and
more accurately, plays Jackson as someone that is a little drunk all the time. The people closest to Jackson as aren't worried about him flying off the handle as they are about keeping him on his feet. He
remembers that alcohol is a depressant, so his outbursts are as
sleepy as they are soul crushing and regrettably memorable. Sam Elliott turns in
a great performance, of course, as Jackson’s older brother and is nominated for Best Supporting Actor. I found a particular delight
in watching Andrew Dice Clay play Ally’s father because he is playing a
character we so rarely see on film, a believable loving and supportive
father.
A Star is Born has picked up 8 Oscar nominations, including
Best Picture, but
shockingly Cooper did not receive a Best Director nomination. Retelling A Star
is Born was a passion project for Cooper; he held on to the project until he was
the right age to play Jackson Maine. Finding a compelling and engaging way to tell a
story that has been told three times before is no easy feat. I watched all 3 previous versions recently and it is amazing how A Star is Born 2018 hits so many of the same beats, and even has the some of the same dialogue as the previous
versions but does not feel like a tired rehash. The approach Cooper the director and cinematographer Matthew Libatique take toward the material makes every scene look and feel fresh even as we move down a familiar path.
A Star is Born is
something almost nonexistent today: a movie for grown-ups from a major studio. This
film does not condescend to its audience and allows its characters to behave to
like real people dealing with serious problems. This is a sentimental picture
but that sentiment is earned. Jackson and Ally’s romance is believable because
of the hard valleys we see them experience as well as the peaks. A darkness
looms over Jackson, but Ally does what she can for him, and for herself,
because that’s what you do for someone you love. A Star is Born works as love story, a drama, a fantasy and
cautionary tale of stardom, and a story about substance abuse all wrapped up in a
soundtrack of great music. Even if you know where the story is going it is so well executed that every moment and every emotion is still gripping and
affecting. There may be another A Star is
Born made 20 years from now, but I think this one will remain as the stand
out.
Nominees: Bill Gerber, Bradley Cooper and Lynette Howell
Taylor, producers
Director: Bradley Cooper
Screenplay: Eric Roth and Bradley Cooper & Will Fetters;
based on A Star is Born by William A.
Wellman and Robert Carson
Cast: Bradley Cooper, Lady Gaga, Sam Elliott
Production Companies: Warner Bros. Pictures, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Pictures, Live Nation Productions, Gerber Pictures, Peters Entertainment, Joint
Effort
Distributor: Warner Bros. Pictures
Release Date: October 5th, 2018
Total Nominations: 8, including Best Picture
Other Nominations: Actor-Bradley Cooper; Actress-Lady Gaga; Supporting
Actor-Sam Elliott; Adapted Screenplay-Eric Roth, Bradley Cooper, Will Fetters; Cinematography-Matthew
Libatique; Original Song-Lady Gaga, Mark Ronson, Anthony Rossomando, Andrew
Wyatt for "Shallow"; Sound Mixing-Tom Ozanich, Dean A. Zupancic, Jason
Ruder, Steven Morrow
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