Maestro (2023) User Reviews

Beautiful to look at, gorgeous music, but no story.

[rich-fouts · 6/10 · 14 December 2023]

I went to Maestro expecting a film that would chronicle the life of one of America's, if not the world's, great composer/conductors. I've seen Leonard Bernstein many, many times, starting at age 8 when my grandfather took me to Bernstein's music for kids on Saturday mornings at Lincoln Center. I had no idea who he was at the time, only that people called him Lenny. My grandpa took me to meet him and he was spellbinding. I remember him looking right threw me with his expressive eyes.

He loved kids and loved to teach them about music. Turns out grandpa and Lenny went to Harvard together, hence I got a personal introduction. Bernstein is the guy that got me hooked on classical music and music in general, but I didn't learn anything about his musical career, his childhood, his years at Harvard, his work in Europe, who inspired him, etc.

The making of West Side Story is really interesting (if you know the story) but nothing about it in this film and I mean "nothing.; We get a tiny glimpse of Candide, but nothing about its composition or insight into the Maestro's process. We get zero insight into his Missa Brevis, perhaps on the highlights of his career.

Bradley Cooper blew me away. I've seen Lenny up close many times and I've talked to him a few times. Cooper nailed it, and the scene at St John of the Divine is probably one of the greatest musical scenes ever captured on film. Cooper's conducting is simply amazing. He worked very very hard to capture the speech, mannerisms, and the Bernstein attitude and texture toward music. I cannot speak highly enough of Cooper's performance, but we get so little insight into the musician, and that was so disappointing.

Carey Mulligan? Her performance is nothing less than spectacular, in fact all the acting is extraordinary, but it's not a story. The Bernstein children really have nothing to do in this film, and I have no idea why Lenny's sister was included as she has very little to say or do. Overall, a very perplexing film ... not sure what he was going for. In fact, I kept waiting for it to start. The emphasis was all on style, and believe me, it's beautiful to look at.

How is it possbile to make Leonard Bernstein uninteresting?

[fmdead · 6/10 · 24 December 2023]

The acting is superb and particularly Carey Mulligan who is astonishing, as usual, and Bradley Cooper's transformation is incredible. The look and feel throughout is very polished. But, and this isn't a minor quibble -- I found it really hard to understand the dialogue! Characters speak so quickly, in a mumble, that I actually considered putting on subtitles. Anyway, it wouldn't have made a difference, I thought the movie was so empty and plotless and uninteresting. There was really no tension in the wife's dealing with her husband's bisexuality, no real exploration or understanding of Bernstein's conflicts, and no delving into his achievements or their context, so there wasn't much left!

All style with little substance

[pkertes-59666 · 6/10 · 14 December 2023]

Think of a biopic of a famous person as like a complex cake - you can carefully dissect one slice of it to examine the contents, or you can bravely try to examine the whole lot to see what it's made of.

This biopic of American composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein is like looking at only the surface of the cake through a slice of Swiss cheese - a lot of loosely connected vignettes with no depth. If you don't know much about the man, you would leave the theatre with no great insights about him.

The film jumps around in time and gives you snippets of the man's life and work. There are scenes about his bisexuality and penchant for men, his role as a conductor and composer, his drug addictions and his relationship with his daughter, but none of these are examined in any depth at all. His bipolar relationship with his wife and her later death from cancer are given the most screen time, but still feels unfulfilled and lacking in substance.

Bradley Cooper directs in a rather disjointed style. The first half is shot in black and white, then we change to colour for no good reason except maybe historical chronology - it doesn't work. Neither does the curiously tight aspect ratio, which again inexplicably opens up to full screen near the end. Some scenes are beautifully shot but too often Cooper relies on the slow zoom in and the very long takes, which don't always seem to match the scene. The film also could have ended perfectly with the penultimate scene, but inexplicably ruins the moment with one extra shot that completely fails to land.

Carey Mulligan is excellent as Bernstein's wife but Cooper as Bernstein doesn't quite work for me. He tends to overact, gives you little insight into the man himself, and the nasal voice starts to grate after a while - maybe it was inevitable with the prosthetic nose he was required to wear.

Even the grand concert scene in the cathedral, conducting his beloved Mahler, didn't quite generate the depth of feeling it could have - contrast this with the Tchaikovsky concert scene in the French-Russian film Le Concert, which takes emotion (actors and viewers) to a much higher level.

All in all this is not a bad movie, and to be fair it does engage the viewer a little more in the second half. But it tackles too many themes with a disturbing superficiality, giving very little substance to almost any. It could have been a lot better. No doubt however it will get lots of Oscar nominations, but then the Academy lost the plot years ago and succumbs to hype more than merit.

The filmmaking was very good, but I found the story not that interesting.

[MJB784 · 6/10 · 10 December 2023]

We don't know much about Leonard Bernstein. We didn't learn why he wanted to be a composer or how he got in the business. His relationship wasn't very clear either. He's bisexual, but that doesn't go anywhere. His wife isn't explained much either other than being a stage actress. We don't know much about his children. The timelines aren't clear when the movie takes place. It seems to start in the 50s other than the opening scene of him as an old man. I do like Bradley Cooper's performance, but not much comes from the character. We don't know what made him famous since he was already famous before his memorable score in On the Waterfront.

Admired it more than I liked it

[DanLawson146 · 7/10 · 7 December 2023]

POSITIVES:

1) The two central performances are both absolutely sensational. Both Cooper and Mulligan have some really jaw dropping scenes and they were what kept me engaged throughout 2) The direction and cinematography are both superb. There are lots of long takes and clever camerawork and this helped to make certain scenes feel much more impactful, such as the big conducting scene near the end that goes on for several minutes with only a couple of cuts 3) Using Bernstein's own pieces as the score for the film was very clever and I loved how over dramatic the score felt a lot of the time

NEGATIVES:

1) I really didn't like the first hour or so of this film while it was in black and white. It just felt so pretentious, fake and full of itself. Also, the characters all talk insanely fast for some reason during the black and white scenes. Things did improve once things went to colour though 2) As the title of this review states, I felt like the film was more of a technical achievement than something I actually enjoyed watching. I didn't really care about any of the characters, in fact I found Bernstein very unlikeable, and I wasn't really invested in the plot 3) As is the case with a lot of biopics, I think this film is guilty of trying to cram an entire person's life into only 2 hours, which makes a lot of things feel very rushed.

I've watched too many of this kind of story, and 'Maestro' isn't an inch different.

[TaylorYee94 · 6/10 · 21 December 2023]

A struggling musician agonized by his own genius, talents, and creativity and trapped in loveless marriage filled with guilt. Both look the other way while one has an affair and realize the importance of one's own partner too late. Right now, at the top of my head I can think of 'Fosse/Verdon', 'A Star Is Born', 'George & Tammy', 'Walk the Line', 'Dreamgirls', 'Daisy Jones & The Six', and etc. (Wow, that's a lot.) Biographical genre is especially tricky because it has to excel the life of actual historical figures. 'Maestro' could have been so much better if it delved into the introspective and artistic side of Bernstein deeper or provided a different and fresh point of view on his life rather than reciting his personal life. His autobiography or research would be more fun and interesting than this explanatory movie.

There were a few futile attempts to make the movie look more artistic, abstract, and ambiguous. They failed because they serve no purpose but to look pretentious. White and black, camera movement, the use of light and shadows, and musical aspects. They are all good attempts, but for what? By doing so, is the story getting stronger? Do they enhance what viewers feel? Waste of time and films.

Bradley Cooper's performance is disappointing. He never acts; he imitates. When he's on the screen, we know clearly that he's acting. It's hard to be absorbed and immersed into the screen because he always pushes the audience away with his trying too hard. I get that he wants to emulate Bernstein's twangy voice. However, emotions and messages he delivers are more important than his likeness of Bernstein's tone, accent, sound, or mannerism. He focuses on what's outside of Bernstein rather than what would be inside of him. There is a 10 minute sequence of Cooper conducting, and it's screaming 'Look how good I am!!!'. It's one of the highest points for emotions to burst out for the audience, and I started to laugh.

Felt A Little Hollow

[statuskuo · 6/10 · 4 December 2023]

Obviously made for the Academy to truly honor Bradley Cooper remarkable transformation into the hoity toity world of Leonard Bernstein. Yes, we know he is going to be great in this role. But sometimes when you surround yourself with Oscar level material and talent, it could seem like it's just fishing for the Little Gold dude.

This is what it felt like. Though, simultaneously...he's just good.

Actor turned directors don't always work. Especially virtuosos that started clownish and end up in the serious zone. Cooper is that guy. Following in the footsteps of Clint Eastwood rather than, say Charles Laughton. It felt like a natural transition for Cooper who seemed to fine tune his energies towards more serious endeavors outside of things like "The Hangover" flicks.

"Silver Linings Playbook" was the start.

And who are his mentors in directing if it weren't the top tier directors.... David O' Russell, Paul Thomas Anderson, Spielberg, Scorsese or Clint Eastwood himself.

What this film struggles with, is the interest level. A lot will go over modern audiences head. Simply because we only know him as the guy who did the music to "West Side Story" And even THAT is stretching it. Cooper doesn't focus his energy on that rather this "love" story of a woman who fell for a gay guy. This would've been interesting 30 years ago. Now, not as intriguing.

Carey Mulligan is the best thing in this movie. At times, she is very much a Katherine Hepburn North Atlantic phony. But when some of the veil of her pain rises to the surface, she drops the pleasantries and tells it like it is.

There is a moment during a Thanksgiving party where we see some of the best acting I've seen between two people. Dialogue is somewhat on the nose, but boy do they both play it to the hilt. It's phenomenal, the ability to get to a screaming match with the words actually meaning something. That is an accomplishment.

Things get slow when the self-indulgent conducting moment creeps in. Yes, we know Brad studied a long time to get Bernstein's mannerisms. Do we really have to see all of it?

Other things that bothered me... it still feels like a very cold movie. Aside from Mulligan, his entire family seems to have been plugged in as trope characters to get you more understanding of the guy. They don't add much. Perhaps that was attempting to be subtle. It felt like subterfuge.

This was Oscar bait in absolute.

Mesmirising portrait, but not in the way I had expected...

[imseeg · 8/10 · 26 November 2023]

Beware, this is a movie about Bernstein's marriage, NOT about his music. It should have better been titled as "The Marriage of Leonard & Felicia" and not "Maestro".

I expected a music biopic, but what I got was a masterfully directed and terrifically acted portrait of a marriage with a bisexual husband and all the difficulties (secret affairs with gay men) that came along with it, when back in the days of the fifties and sixties, being gay wasnt something one could openly talk about in public.

The good: LONG scenes with NO editing cuts. What BLISS to be able to watch these 2 great actors perform uninhibited by cuts, with many minutes long lasting scenes filmed from 1 static angle. I truly applaud the director (Bradley Cooper) and the photographer and editor for this gorgeous and balanced way of filming this portrait. I was really impressed!

Any bad? I had my trepidations about Bradley Cooper's impersonation of Bernstein that was borderline according to many. Did he pull it off? I think he did a really good job, although it took me some time to get used to all the mannerisims (the peculiar voice in particular). I can understand though that others might get a bit uneasy / irritated by some of the makeup (too much?) and other mannerisims.

Carey Mulligan (as the wife of Bernstein) deserves special mention. Her role was more subdued and subtle, but AS powerful and touching. She truly shined!

Conclusion: I am not a fan of watching stories about artist's private lives, but as far as this personal account of Leonard Bernstein's marriage is concerned, they created a really mesmirising, warmhearted portrait, that left me behind in my seat with goosebumps and in reverence...

Thank you for reading my 2100 th review on Imdb!

Bradley Cooper's Ego is a Huge Distraction

[traclark-63005 · 6/10 · 21 December 2023]

I found myself following Bradley Cooper's effort of acting more than being lost in the story that he was telling. He came off over the top theatrical. He laughs and and makes nonsensical movements at times just to fill space. His delievery of lines are too fast paced and comes off too rehearsed making his scenes about timing and not connecting naturally to other characters. Mulligan's performance was magical and real. She is so talented that the acting seems effortless, yet you know it is the extreme opposite. Maya Hawke is a joy. She is a gift and has proved to be a highly enjoyable talent in her performances. I think Cooper has a great intention and creative eye, but the effort falls flat. I almost want him to take the film and sit on it and comeback to modify his performance. I think as he grows his talent he will come to understand that people want to see the character and not see Bradley Cooper acting the character. The movie is worth the watch, but not worth the wait.

Showcases Everything Least Interesting About Bernstein's Life

[evanston_dad · 4/10 · 21 December 2023]

When Amy Schumer was roasting the film "Being the Ricardos" at the Oscars a couple of years ago, she was making fun of Aaron Sorkin for writing a screenplay about the most iconic female comedian of all time that didn't have a single funny moment. She compared it to making a biopic about Michael Jordan and only showing the bus trips between games.

Bradley Cooper, pay attention. Why did you choose to make a movie about Leonard Bernstein, arguably one of the most influential musicians of the twentieth century, and then focus on all of the most mundane aspects of his life? Do we need yet another movie about a famous person bogged down with scene after scene of them squabbling with their spouse? If you don't already know why Bernstein is so legendary, you're not going to learn it here. You might not even come away from the movie knowing what Bernstein wrote, because the film tosses out titles quickly and casually as it's rushing to get to the next scene of Cooper overacting and Carey Mulligan looking strained as all long-suffering wives in all biopics ever made must do. You don't see him developing any projects or working with collaborators. The movie implies that he was disdainful of his success in musical theater despite revolutionizing it with "West Side Story." But then why did he spend so much time working in it if he hated it? Why weren't we at least treated with someone doing a cameo appearance as Stephen Sondheim? Why why why?

And then to top it all off, the last quarter of the film is a dreary slog as we watch Mulligan slowly die of cancer. I despise it when movies show characters slowly dying of cancer. It freaks me out, and I hate it. I know this woman actually did die of cancer, but I don't want to watch it. That's more my problem than it is the movie's, because that's what happened, but still.

Cooper's screenplay is terrible, and because of that, nothing else about the movie has a chance. Mulligan is quite good, but she's hampered by the material. Cooper will be nominated for an Oscar, and might win, because the Academy loves nothing more than rewarding actors for playing famous people while heaped under prosthetic makeup. To the film's credit, for once the makeup is quite good. Usually biopic makeup makes the actors look like their faces are about to melt off, but here the effect is pretty seamless.

Someone clearly told Bradley Cooper that Warren Beatty is the only person to ever score Oscar nominations for producing, directing, writing, and acting in the same film, and Cooper said "Hold my beer." He's so desperately hankering for an Oscar for this film that you can smell red carpet wafting from the screen.

Grade: C-

Carey Mulligan gives a superb performance

[steiner-sam · 8/10 · 8 December 2023]

It's a biopic set in New York City between 1943 and the late 1980s. Its primary focus is the relationship and marriage between Leonard Bernstein (Bradley Cooper) and Felicia Montealegre (Carey Mulligan). We learn pretty early that Bernstein's sexual appetites extend to both women and men. An early male relationship is with David Oppenheim (Matt Bomer). Felicia knows Bernstein's orientation from the beginning but asks that he be discrete. We also meet Bernstein's sister, Shirley (Sarah Silverman), and, especially, he and Felicia's oldest daughter, Jamie (Maya Hawke).

The second orientation of "Maestro" is Bernstein's difficulty harnessing his expansive skills in composition, conducting, and popular education about music. His extroversion sometimes hinders his ability to focus. The film portrays this issue less effectively.

"Maestro" is an intense and skillfully photographed movie. The cinematography reflects the era being portrayed. Thus, for example, the film is black and white until the 1960s. I cannot comment on the portrayals of Bernstein's conducting or the quality of his compositions, except to note that Bernstein's conducting is very intense. An enormous number of people populate the film, making it difficult to keep track from time to time. That said, Carey Mulligan gives a superb performance that deserves Academy consideration, though some parts of her life are missing, such as her political activism.

Cooper's Bernstein is not deep outside the relationship with Felicia that slowly deteriorates. The film omits to mention that Bernstein also had affairs with women during the marriage. The movie portrays Felicia's final illness with breast cancer very effectively and emotionally.

.

Too much Leonard, not enough Bernstein

[Lomax343 · 6/10 · 10 December 2023]

It's an old (and unanswerable) question: to what extent is it possible - or desirable - to separate the art from the artist? Is it possible to appreciate the art simply as art, and not to delve into the (sometimes tawdry) details of the artist? Or are the art and the artist so inextricably entwined that you cannot understand the one without knowing the other?

I very much lean towards separation. I fell in love with Bernstein's music the first time I saw West Side Story mumble years ago at an impressionable age; which is why I was disappointed that there was so little West Side Story in this film. Surely a biopic of a composer should feature that composer's music pretty heavily?

Of course, we all know that beneath every great artist is a human being - usually with a collection of human flaws. But does this matter? Well, it matters here. What we mostly get is a film about Leonard the man, and his complicated marriage to Felicia Montealegre. Much of this was new to me. I knew that Bernstein was bisexual, but didn't care. I find that I also don't care about most of the other details of his life which were revealed to me - although if the film was truly about the man, not his music, his record as a human rights activist should probably have been at least touched on. But never mind that: I came for the music, and didn't get enough.

Not that this film is without merit. Bradley Cooper's performance is first class - there's one sequence in which he truly shows us the passion of a great conductor - and Carey Mulligan is as riveting as ever. Cinematography and sound are both excellent.

Overall, this is a good film, but ultimately a disappointing one.

Boring story with little substance

[aslihanbiyikoglu-103-842075 · 5/10 · 25 December 2023]

Just watched it and unfortunately found it really boring while it could've been a great story about a really talented and colorful man with his ups and downs.

Mulligan was the best part of the movie, she was playing with real emotion whereas Bradley Cooper was looked liked he is trying too hard.

The story was super ordinary, not much substance to it. I felt like movie tried to make a big deal out of his sexuality but couldn't even reflect that effectively. It was like a fashion shoot to show how much Cooper tried to look like him. And I found the makeup really off putting with too much tan, Bernstein doesn't look that much tan, I don't know why they made him look like George Hamilton. There were 3 scenes really moved me (doctor's office, after the concert and home with kids) but that was it.

Netflix Best Oscar Hope Misses the Mark

[christian94 · 6/10 · 22 December 2023]

Even with its 4 strong nominations at the Golden Globes (Picture, Director, Actor, Actress), I must say my appreciation of Cooper's new film is not as stellar, as organic and fantastic as A Star Is Born (2018) - 8 Oscar noms.

Netflix's firs real Oscar contender was Alfonso Cuarón's Roma (2018) which won 3 of its 10 nominations. Last year's Germany's remake of All Quiet on the Western Front (2022) was nominated for 9 Oscars and won 4. My all-time Netflix favorite is Noah Baumbach's Marriage Story which I rewatched recently. It is much better than that year's Best Picture co-nominee Martin Scorsese's The Irishman (2019) which was still as solid movie. Neither won and Netflix's overall 8 Best Picture nominees did not win since a decade at the Oscars.

This year, Scorsese produces Maestro (2023) with Spielberg, but his own slow burn of a movie Killers of the Flower Moon (2023) has more flair yet not a Netflix production (he produces it with DiCaprio). I think this year's Netflix better picture is Todd Haynes's May December (2023 - also nominated for 4 Golden Globes). So why did Bradley Cooper not exactly deliver?

Carey Mulligan's performance is certainly good, yet his directing lacks the creation of intimacy like he did with Lady Gaga in A Star Is Born. Most interactions are superficial, and you have to wait until the 75th minute to see the first powerful scene with strong dialogue and directing. The intro scenes are compelling up until the two main characters meet, but I found the rest of the first hour a mess. The second half of the film is surely better yet lacks urgency or dramatic tension in directing, even in the hospital scene. There is also a shortage of real wisdom or realisation in the script. We are left with a light and superficial understanding of the two main characters, even to the point where their respective love for music and acting and their love for each other is not really felt. Nolan's Oppenheimer (2023) was much more successful in that aspect and Emily Blunt's performance.

Cooper's acting also lacked some charm in my view, save perhaps a few scenes like in the end when he teaches a young conductor.

Finally, Cooper's directing choices for cinematography left the very talented Matthew Libatique with not much to work with. In Black & White, 4:3 aspect ratio or even 16:9 color, few scenes seem to tell the story like a more claustrophobic The Whale (2022) was able to with his Darren Aronofsky collaboration. Libatique was nominated for an Oscar for his work with Aronofsky's fantastic Black Swan (2011) and with Cooper's sublime A Star is Born (2018).

Better luck next time Coop! Good effort. 6.5/10.

We can still see growth, grit and gusto, but misses the mark as a whole.

Jewish Ham!

[drednm · 25 December 2023]

Maestro (2023) seems a very flimsy "biography" of Leonard Bernstein. We learn just about nothing of his life. Music. Wife. Boys on the side. Other than that?

The film stars Bradley Cooper and a fake nose. He (Cooper, not the nose) also co-wrote, directed, and produced and is being hailed for his work and artistic ambition. Coincidentally, I'm reading Barbra Streisand's new 970-page memoir and in her section on Yentl, she recalls the reviews that lambasted her colossal ego to star in a film she also co-wrote, directed, and produced.

Anyway, I found Cooper's performance to be hysterically hammy (yes, I know Bernstein was flamboyant) and Mulligan's wife just plain annoying. Such self-centered people who were always "on." They were exhausting to watch ... but that's the whole film. There's no background material, Just them swanning about like characters out of Auntie Mame screaming "I was never in the chorus!"

This will likely reap a slew of Oscar nominations and Cooper will probably beat of DiCaprio and Cillian Murphy for best actor. Wry. Hold the ham!

Cooper's Bravura Turn Overshadows Bernstein's Artistry

[EUyeshima · 7/10 · 21 December 2023]

As both director and actor, Bradley Cooper isn't afraid to go showy and flamboyant, and for the most part, his approach works within the contours of legendary conductor and composer Leonard Bernstein's larger-than-life personality and unfettered hedonism. With a prosthetic nose that is surprisingly unobtrusive, he captures Bernstein's theatrics as conductor without being excessive, though the lion's share of this 2023 movie is focused on the unconventional, time-spanning love story between Bernstein and actress Felicia Montealegre played with clipped authority and enveloping vulnerability by Carey Mulligan. Cooper gallantly gives her top billing, but this is far more his star vehicle even as their story takes an uninvited turn. Of course, Bernstein's closeted proclivities provide unavoidable complications throughout. Cooper the filmmaker effectively uses overhead crane shots and mise-en-scene transitions like the welcome "Fancy Free" dance sequence. In fact, I wish more of Bernstein's masterworks and his creative process were prominently showcased like, for example, "West Side Story" and "On the Waterfront" beyond their use as incidental background music. Regardless, the film is worth seeing for Cooper's bravura turn and Mulligan's quietly complementary work.

Maestro

[M0n0_bogdan · 6/10 · 22 December 2023]

This movie is not real. It exists only as a selfish desire to be award bait from all involved. It's not the first one and not the last one. But it feels so devoid of realness that it hurts. It is also a contradiction because the actors are very capable of bringing a kind of realness that is necessary for bringing the characters to life but the realness is so painfully manufactured and not natural...it doesn't have that cinema magic, it's all in the eyes. They were patting themselves on the back after every scene: "My, my, this is so "insert generic award here" worthy." I'm talking here about the technical aspects as well. The black and white left me cold.

It's not a bad movie in any sense. I just wanted to be fooled more and not be so paperthin and melodramatic.

Slowly

[jclunalo · 6/10 · 27 December 2023]

Is not a movie for everyone, it seems clearly that isn't my type of movie, good make up but don't have any interesting story to tell. Score 6 but excellent make up. In whole movie I might falling sleep too many times and also, it's not clear, which was the deal between Francis and Leonard to come together with three children. It's better see other biopics more interesting than that. I must say that Maya hawk and her character has a little appearances, nevertheless her acting don't support any good to the story. I must say that this review I do from my deeply ignorance and only want to share some thoughts.

A standing ovation

[davew-14 · 9/10 · 22 November 2023]

It's worth noting that at this past weekend's screening of "Maestro" for members of the Motion Picture Academy, the filmmakers received a standing ovation when they came onstage for the Q&A afterward. This from a crowd of around 800 folks who actually know what it takes to make a film, are willing to make the trek across town, and are not an easy group to impress to that degree. A standing ovation from that crowd is a rare event.

As others have noted, this is primarily a study of the relationship between two artists, one a well-regarded Broadway actress (played brilliantly by Carey Mulligan) and the other a once-in-a-generation musical genius. While others bemoan this approach to what some characterize as a biopic (it isn't really), I feel it was a smart way to let the audience in on Bernstein the man. Bernstein the musician is pretty easy to learn about - just check Wikipedia, YouTube and the gazillion recordings available.

Many major filmmakers, including Martin Scorsese & Steven Spielberg, have tried tackling a "biopic" of Bernstein, and struggled on the best approach; Spielberg essentially handed the project to the fresh-off from "A Star is Born" Bradley Cooper when Steven learned of Cooper's passion from childhood for conducting and his fascination with Bernstein. It didn't hurt that Cooper, even without the brilliant prosthetics (approved by the Bernstein children), looks remarkably like Bernstein, and was able to get his voice, accent and speech patterns down so perfectly that if I closed my eyes at that screening I would have sworn I was hearing the Lenny Bernstein I grew up watching on TV. Cooper, growing by leaps and bounds as a filmmaker with this one, serves his actors brilliantly, and leaves the viewer with a palpable sense of what maestro Bernstein was like as a human, flaws and all.

Mulligan Amazes - Cooper grows

[grandpabone · 7/10 · 24 November 2023]

Carrie Mulligan is outstanding. Cooper the actor is almost as good. Cooper the director is often breathtaking.

I knew in advance that this was a study of the Bernstein's romance, and not of his creative process as an artist. It is hard to show that creative process in a film. Many times, to portray the trials of creation effectively, a director must expect his audience to have some familiarity with the process. Most of us are not painters, nor dancers, nor composer/conductors. Most of us don't understand how a composer can wrestle with choosing the next note... a 4th or a flat 4th? Such quandaries aren't fascinating to most and are largely unexplored. Films that partially succeed often have crazy protagonists: "Lust for Life"'s Van Gogh, or "Pollock".

Cooper's direction makes frequent use of the "long take", a single shot that can take minutes and has no cuts or edits. These shots give us a sense of "place", we are there: a long take (and long shot from a distance) of the couple talking with arbors of grapevines framing the scene, the couple on either side of a room arguing while the Thanksgiving Day parade floats past the window, and a wonderful six minute long take of Cooper conducting Mahler 2. Kudos to Matthew Libatique's photography.

... and a brief statement to those who complain about the prosthetic: grow up.

On the whole, the movie came up a bit short for me. My takeaways: Mulligan rules, and I can't wait to see what Cooper does next.

Where's the biography?

[wisewebwoman · 5/10 · 23 December 2023]

Yes, good acting, great music but absolutely no story. At all. Apart from his bisexuality which dominated the script.

Bradley Cooper was too greedy in writing, directing and starring. What did he write? Not much of a story. I'd like to have seen Lenny's childhood explicated, more meat on the bare bones offered here.

Also, why so little on West Side Story - one brief extract and not the huge explosive hit it was at the time. The adulation which followed.

The teasing bits of his Missa were beautiful and far too much of his Mahler, though lovely, had little bearing on the overall story.

Brad's prosthetic nose was distracting in that it gave a nasal whiny tone to his dialogue. And he might have done better with another actor.

Carey Mulligan, as always was amazing in her role but again, underplayed the distress she must have felt at his infidelity/. At one point he left her for a young (male) lover and only returned when she was diagnosed with cancer. (in her breast, from a broken heart? Who knows)

The great man of music was not served well here, far too shallow a treatment of his genius.

5/10.

None of you nose what's you're talking about!

[harleyruming · 10/10 · 2 September 2023]

Don't judge the film based on the nose. Judge is based on the film. Critique the makeup all you want, but not the film. This is a beautiful film - great story, marvellous acting, beautiful music and a great aesthetic production design. This all put together, makes this one of the best films of 2023, capturing the life of the late great Leonard Bernstein. An amazing gem that people will overlook, because they aren't jewish and care so much about a prosthetic nose. Bernstein's s children approved of the nose, so deal with it. It's a shame, all everyone wants to talk about is an exaggerated nose, but that's where we are. Appreciate what's in front of you. An amazing film by BRADLEY COOPER!!!

Where is the story?

[ouriel-ohayon · 6/10 · 24 December 2023]

While the actors give us a strong performance and the camera is always spot on one has to wonder where the story really was? It cannot be that the story of one of the greatest composer/conductor of modern history be reduced to a focus on his love story. His life was so much more than that. Where was west side story? This monument of music ? Where are his meetings with some of the greatest composers of the twentieth century? Where is the story of the music? It felt like a jigsaw puzzle where the pieces do not connect. That was a missed opportunity. Also so many things fell just weird: why did his wife jump in the pool when Bernstein finished his mass? Just why? Nothing clarifies that moment which comes out fo the blue. How did Leonard B life end?

So many missing pieces.

The True Maestro here is Bradley Coopers Ego.

[Irishmonk · 2/10 · 21 December 2023]

There aren't many films out there that feature the classical music world or figures as their subject matter. Tar of course comes to mind, which imo was a masterpiece, though it was initially a bit slow to engage this viewer. Amadeus is another one. Anyway, I came into this one hoping it would be a welcome addition to a very short list.

What I was not expecting was this collosal, stupyfingly disappointing shell of a movie. Rather than try to tell coherent story or reveal some information about a somewhat overlooked but important figure, the creator behind this dismal effort--and that would be Bradley Cooper himself--decided to give us a turgid arrangement of seemingly random, uninteresting scenes that ultimately had nothing of interest to say about the character portrayed. Sure, it had the veneer of being technically polished, with lots of aging makeup in play and actors--Bradly especially--amping up their performances to Oscar-worthy levels. But there was no story, and even worse, no sense of engagement with the primary characters. It's like the camera set ups were deliberately planned to make the actors seem as remote and off kilter as possible. The events were random, the dialogue empty, banal and uninformative, the accompanying music frequently distracting. Overall, it was just such a "look at me, act, direct and write" vanity piece for Bradley Cooper that said far more about him, and his outsized ego, than it did about the long deceased and sadly overlooked subject that the film purports to be about.

To sum up, Maestro is a textbook example of style over substance, vanity over generosity, pretentiousness over authenticity, cinematic form over narrative function.

Avoid this film, and watch (or rewatch) Tar instead--or even that old chestnut, "Amadeus". (which as much as I didn't like it at the time , is a restrained masterpiece compared to this folly of a film.)

I wanted to love it SO bad but...

[Btt112 · 6/10 · 26 December 2023]

I have listened to many interviews about this film and watched it on a laptop instead of theatres. Two reasons that have made me so harsh in tone but still don't change how I fundamentally feel about this film.

I understand that the film was about their relationship and was not a traditional biopic, but, if the two main people in the relationship don't have complexity then how is their relationship supposed to be complex and have layers to make sense of, and thus, captivating?! By the end, I was only desperate to learn more about them even though I got to see the most intimate and sadly, crushing parts of their relationship. I will admit, when Felicia yells at Lenny and says he will only end up as an "old queen", (kinda homophobic but this fight scene is perfection) is so satisfying. Why? I don't quite know but probably because most of the sympathy of this film lies with Felicia and how Lenny crushes her, especially as he goes on about his multiple affairs with other men. I suspect this has to do with the kind of framing of the "tragedy" of this story; the making of an incredible man but the cost to those whose most intimate self gets destroyed in that making. As a gay man, I am deeply interested in this woman's/women's story, I ultimately felt unconvinced by the retelling of this trope. I am probably flattening out some of the nuance that the film provides, but I don't think there was enough effort to reckon with these two and all they faced with in terms of the historical conditions that shaped their relationship and how we retell that story.

I will say over and over again, Carey Mulligan, as Felicia (and Bradley Cooper was pheonomenal, but I felt way less care and interest in him as Lenny) is soooo compelling. With every close up on her, I just leaned in a little bit. Just to get a little closer to that magic. She holds multiple truths, lies, hopes, and fantasies of herself and Lenny in those frames. Thank God, because for how everything is so beautiful in this film and the amount of effort, attention, and care put into the film, I still never made my way around to really caring about these two. I know this film was years in the making but gosh I am disappointed. The incredible makeup, the costumes, and the constant smoke across their beautiful faces could not make up for the lack of a compelling story. Something was so unsurprising but, devastating from the very first hint at that unravelling, that a woman can at once deeply love, care, and labour for a man and all his wonders, but ultimately be destroyed by him. I cast no moral judgement but is this film a lesson to just say no to sparkly, beautiful things? Or maybe just a story of how we still say yes and in that, we still find something incredibly fulfilling and nourishing?