Bradley Cooper and I have a complicated relationship. Firstly, it’s one-sided, as he doesn’t know I exist. Secondly, and much more importantly, I have always liked him as an actor, even when his main schtick was doing “just comedies”. He was charming and seemed like a chill dude who would be fun to talk to. And then he decided to direct, something many actors have done before to various degrees of success. The thing is, Bradley isn’t a bad director. But every shot and every decision he makes in his films almost screams: “Please, like me. I am a director now, and I want to get an Oscar too!” Maestro is the latest example of that where the movie plays, and you go through and once it ends… I felt next to nothing.
This might be a shock to many, but I don’t know much about the world of classical music. But even I have heard the name Leonard Bernstein before. So when I heard a biopic about him is in the works with Bradley and Carey Mulligan playing the titular duo, I was actually mildly excited to see it as again; I like Bradley and love and adore Carey, who has been one of those “always excellent” performers since her first movie. But most importantly, I was looking forward to this as it was a biopic, and given I know next to nothing about the real-life Leonard, I wanted to learn a bit more, something that might intrigue me to go and Google a couple of things about him after the movie was over. You know that feeling when you watch a great biopic and then read trivia about that movie and Google what was true and what the “it’s a movie, so we made this up to make it more cinematic” details? But… I didn’t do any Googling after this movie finished.
The reason for that is simple, the movie gave me two or three things about Bernstein I didn’t know. He got his “lucky call”, was bisexual (?), and he seemed to live a carefree life with this zen-like attitude. And yeah, he cared about music and composing. Was there anything else? Unfortunately, no. Nothing about what made him great because he was already great when we met him. Ok, maybe we will delve deeper into his passion for music…? Kind of, we got one scene towards the end where he teaches a class and demonstrates his knowledge. But that is about it. Look, I don’t need your stereotypical “from cradle to the grave” biopic. I don’t mind the film focusing on specific events in someone’s life like Ferrari (2023, my review here) did, but Maestro seems all over the place and distant. And you can pick one movie, not both!
We mostly follow him throughout the years and his life with his wife Felicia, portrayed by Carey Mulligan. Bradley’s performance was great, and Carey’s excellent (another Oscar nomination, please!), I don’t think I have gotten to know him any better than before this movie. That is something I thought was the point of making a biopic in the first place for the general audience to understand or get to know someone much better. Unfortunately, when the movie ended, I thought for a second and realised that I still had no idea who Bernstein was and what made him one of the best (if not the best) composers who has ever lived… And if the point of Maestro was to portray him as this carefree bisexual (?), that is also fine, but I am not sure whether that works.
The reason I put a question mark after the word bisexual is that I don’t even know whether he was one, illustrating my point about this film not wanting to tell us anything. All we see is him loving his wife and having kids whilst openly flirting and kissing men as well. To me, he seems like a bisexual, but here’s the thing. How did he see himself? Because he wouldn’t (and frankly shouldn’t) give a flying fuck about what I thought he was, but it would be nice of the movie to (maybe) let us in more. My big problem with this film was that distance, that almost coldness where we are watching a movie about this unique talent, but we never see what made him unique. It feels like the film is keeping us at arms’ distance.
Technically, the movie is stunning to look at. Here is where I can’t help but think of Bradley and his eagerness to be recognised by his peers. And there is nothing wrong with wanting that, and in all the interviews I have heard of him talking about this movie, he seems like a genuinely decent guy, but… Maestro feels like that overachieving kid in a class who wants to convince you he knows everything and then pleads with you to like him for it. There are some beautiful shots that serve no purpose. The same can be said about aspect ratios; the movie has several, and they are used for the most basic “passage of time”, aka “We shot this scene in this ratio because it’s the 30s, you see!” Cooper feels like he’s read every single book about directing and, on paper, knows exactly what he is supposed to do, how to frame a shot, stage a scene, etc. But those scenes feel mechanical, lifeless and boring.
This movie has a pretty sad storyline I won’t spoil, just in case you are like me and didn’t know anything about either Leonard or Felicia. And when I started seeing it unveiled, I didn’t care. When it finished, I still didn’t care. Because when everything feels cold and emotionally distant, you will… well, not care too much about either character on the screen. In any other biopic, that would have been one of those tough-to-watch scenes that might bring tears to your eyes. In Maestro, despite my enjoyment of the performances, I honestly didn’t care.
If I omit the distance, the camera work was great; some shots were spectacular, and the church scene was superb. And again, mainly Carey Mulligan carries this movie on her tiny frame. Therefore, Maestro wasn’t a waste of my time, but what should (and could) have been an excellent biopic about this titan of classical musicals turns out to be a perfectly fine movie that you might appreciate if you already know who Bernstein was. I know some people loved this movie. I am happy for them. Unfortunately for the rest of us, we still aren’t any closer to understanding who he was, why was he so great, and what made him tick, but hey, we know he was a happy-go-lucky guy who fucked everyone…? So, yay?
Overall, Maestro is a fascinating biopic that doesn’t seem like it wants to give you anything about the titular character. Instead, you get this almost “over the years” montage, snippets of Bernstein’s life that should allow you to get to know him better, but, in my case, it didn’t work. From a person who’s watched many biopics, from great to awful ones, Maestro is pretty much in the middle. Just like Bernstein apparently was, this movie just is. It exists, and some people are very happy about it. I wish I could be one of them.
That’s all for this one! Did you see it? What did you think about it? Let me know!
Until next time,
Luke