Title: A Star Is Born
Director: Bradley Cooper
Cast: Lady Gaga, Bradley Cooper, Sam Elliott, Andrew Dice Clay, Dave Chappelle, Rebecca Field, Michael Harney, Rafi Gavron, Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real, Shangela Laquifa Wadley, William Belli, Anthony Ramos, Halsey.
As the protagonist of the 2018 ‘A Star Is Born’ said: “It’s a beautiful story that lasts through time.” This is the fourth remake, after the 1937 film with Janet Gaynor, the 1954 with Judy Garland and the 1976 with Barbara Streisand.
The classic tale about the talented ingenue who enters the music business — thanks to her encounter with an established rockstar, whose career ascends while his declines — still thrives during the age of the internet. As a matter of fact, the success of the budding star, passes through YouTube.
Lady Gaga was the perfect candidate to play the songwriter who rises to stardom, and it is refreshing to see her with less frills than we are accustomed to observing, when she wears her phantasmagorical music outfits and make-up. Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta had already shown great screen presence when she played The Countess in the television series ‘American Horror Story.’
‘A Star Is Born’ makes Lady Gaga’s dream come true: to be an actress. In many interviews she has expressed how music came first in her career, but that she had always longed to act as much as singing. Now thanks to the extraordinary intuition of her co-star Bradley Cooper — who also made his directorial debut with this film — the singer accomplished her aspirations.
Gaga and Cooper, who have great chemistry throughout the entire movie, perform original songs which they wrote with several artists, including Lukas Nelson, Jason Isbell and Mark Ronson. The singing was recorded live during filming to enhance the spontaneity of the characters in the story.
Although there is nothing more that could be added to this classic, that has had various adaptations through the history of film, Bradley Cooper succeeds in finding the right angle to address the timeless nature of human feelings and failings, mixed with today’s diverse world of music.
Technical: A-
Acting: A+
Story: C+
Overall: B
Written by: Chiara Spagnoli Gabardi
