Summary
How many remakes is too many? If Bradley Cooper’s directorial debut is any guide, then keep ’em coming.
Remakes can be a tricky thing. For every Around the World in 80 Days (1956) there’s an Around the World in 80 Days (2004). While falling short of most horror franchises, A STAR IS BORN is the fourth major Hollywood film to bear the name and the same basic plot. Even so, Bradley Cooper’s directorial debut manages to not only remain fresh, but is also filled with some raw emotions.
The basic plot of the film – scripted here by Eric Roth, Bradley Cooper, and Will Fetters – remains mostly unchanged. Seasoned country singer Jackson Maine (Cooper) battles substance addiction, not least of which is to deal with his rapid hearing loss. He discovers singer Ally (Lady Gaga) in a drag club, and as he fosters her singing career, they begin to fall in love. However, as Ally’s star begins to rise so does Jackson’s insecurity, sending him into a depressive cycle that may destroy them both.
What is perhaps most surprising about this latest version of a familiar story is how completely enveloping it is. It’s a comparatively slender outing next to the 181 minutes of George Cukor’s version, but Cooper ensures that we feel every minute. From the boozy opening number (“Black Eyes”) through to the emotional finale, Matthew Libatique’s camera is allowed to linger on the small details. It’s so intimate that we aren’t so much following the story of Jackson and Ally as being allowed to sit in the backstage area of their lives and just observe.
Of course, Cooper’s intimate involvement in the production means that the film is heavily weighted towards his character. The film is just as much about his attempts to cope with/medicate his own failings as it is about Ally’s stardom being born. For some viewers, this will be a chance to see Cooper at his most raw and unguarded. From all reports, he poured a large amount of himself into the process, and every inch is seen on screen. Others will wish that more time was spent with Gaga, whose character’s arc of self-critical singer turned superstar could have gone in some darker directions.
Yet this approach would have ignored the positive aspects of Ally’s rise, and made the central love story a simple tragedy. Instead we get a heartfelt spin on the notion of love acting as a kind of cage, and the liberation of self-actualisation. This is expressed powerfully by the actual stars of the film: the songs. Centrepiece “Shallows” is a recurring motif throughout A STAR IS BORN, acting not only as ‘their song’ but as a handy bit of foreboding. “I’ll Never Love Again” is a weepy showstopper.
Rounding out the cast are a collection of familiar faces. RuPaul’s Drag Race fans will immediately recognise Shangela and Willam in early cameos, while theatre goers will nod to Hamilton’s Anthony Ramos as Ally’s friend Ramon. Andrew Dice Clayton is priceless as Ally’s dad, complete with his blue-collar entourage, and a cameo from Dave Chapelle is an unexpectedly grounded turn for the comedian. Yet it’s the human moustache Sam Elliot who is the heart of the film, conveying more tear-inducing realness in a single look than some actors do in their entire career.
It would be incredibly easy to dismiss Cooper’s film as yet another rehash of a Hollywood staple, yet stories like these were made to be retold for every couple of generations. As touching a confluence of music and vision as any you’ll find at the cinema this year, expect to be seeing this at many awards ceremonies next year.
