acid reflects

A Star Is Born
Directed by Bradley Cooper
Based on the 1937 and 1976 films of the same name

Powerful stuff from Bradley Cooper, on and off-screen. A good update of the tale, including great new songs. Sam Elliott deserves praise.

Tale as old as time, or as in this case, a tale re-told for the fourth (fifth?) time.

Jackson Maine (Bradley Cooper) is a country rock superstar who meets Ally (Lady Gaga,) a part time waitress and performer, at a drag queen bar. Jack is immediately smitten, and a whirlwind romance brings Ally onstage with Jack. Her unscripted performance skyrockets her to fame. As she shoots for the stars, Jack’s glitter suffers with a worsening dependence on alcohol and deteriorating hearing impairment. As depression sets in on Jack, the couple struggles to stay together even as they try to keep both of their careers on track. There is a price to pay for it all, as we know.

This is an interesting take on the trite story, transported into the “now” by making Jack a country rock star, and Ally a pop star product in the post-American Idol vein. There’s a significant shift towards telling the husband’s side of the story, something that was practically plot device in the previous editions. Kris Kristofferson’s version of the carefree rockstar John Norman Howard in 1976 is the closer comparison – but even that character was a support to the female lead’s.

The bearded Cooper speaks with a soft, whiskey-aged timbre that makes his Maine distinct from Kris Kristofferson’s edition. Even more striking is the tone of his singing voice, as if, appropriately, he has been a country rock star for so long. Cooper also handles the job behind the camera quite well, keen on making closeups to better capture what goes on with the characters intimately. There’s also an air of sentimentality to his portrayal of Jack as well as in the composition of his concert images – as if they were vestiges to a time gone by from the heydays of rock and roll. Hello cinematographer Matthew Libatique and designer Karen Murphy.

Cooper’s ASIB pays respect to previous versions a few times, Gaga says at some point that her Ally was born in a trunk – a reference to the Judy Garland medley in the 1954 version by George Cukor.

I’m not too keen on Gaga’s Ally, whose character isn’t fleshed out so much as to require some truth from Gaga – the only times that she felt authentic to her Ally was in the scene where Jack tries to fetch her at her rehearsals after he botches a gig, and the scene where she goes to Jack’s rehab center. Those and in all her scenes with singing. The rest just didn’t feel completely “there.”

But Sam Eliott’s portrayal of Jack’s brother Bobby is something to take notice of. The way Eliott portrays Bobby’s conflicted relations with Jack, and his restrained empathy towards Jack are quite affecting and memorable.

By comparison, I didn’t enjoy Damien Chazelle’s La La Land for representing white privilege. However, I do recognize that some of the songs from that musical were enjoyable. City of Stars is a memorable heartbreaker. Cooper’s ASIB consciously (or incidentally) avoids overlooking representation by introducing Ally in an LGBTQ environment that’s not far from Gaga’s fanbase.

But I am not a fan of the lyrics of most of the songs. Yes, they convey what the narrative requires, accompanied by reverberant music. To that extent they are adequate. None come quite close to the emotions of “Evergreen”.

Maybe it’s Time – Bradley Cooper

Maybe it’s time to let the old ways die
Maybe it’s time to let the old ways die
It takes a lot to change your plans
And a train to change your mind
Maybe it’s time to let the old ways die
Oh, maybe it’s time to let the old ways die

Jack’s song has probably the best lyrics of the lot, and is my favorite as a better choice for nominating an original song at awards season than the main love song, The Shallow.

The Shallow – Bradley Cooper, Lady Gaga

I’m off the deep end
Watch as I dive in
I’ll never meet the ground
Crash through the surface
Where they can’t hurt us
We’re far from the shallow now

“The Shallow” builds into an intense ballad that’s hard to ignore. Gaga’s vocals assert their strength in this song that screams of assertion, hope and promise. But it is hardly a romantic song in the vein of “Evergreen,” and in the age of “Who run the world?,” Beyonce’s lyrics sound more loaded than the literal words on “The Shallow.” “Always Remember Us This Way” is another slow love song – again, as the title suggests, the words don’t go far down deep. Another song that showcases Gaga’s vocals is “Look What I Found” – a catchy upbeat R&B ditty about a down and out worker who found her luck and heart. Again, no magic in the lyrics.

I did mention the songs being reverberant – sound mixing in the movie is an aural luxury.

There’s also this bit about romanticizing suicide that I’m uncomfortable with, arguably the weakness in all of the versions of the story. The 1976 version with Kristofferson does not make the cause of his death clear, and somewhat avoids this moral dilemma. In fairness, had things gone logically, this story won’t be romantic at all.

The problem is the material itself. In its core, the story of ASIB examines “what price, fame” presented in similar structure across all versions from Cukor’s 1932 film, “What Price, Hollywood?.” We’ve seen this story told countless times. Familiarity isn’t the problem. It’s just that this is no longer Ally’s journey. By shifting focus towards Jack, Cooper’s version becomes less Emerging Star and more Falling Star. It doesn’t change the core examination of “what price, fame” – it only becomes less of the title. As a consequence, Gaga’s victory lap sounds less triumphant than Streisand’s.

With One More Look At You – Barbara Streisand

With one more look at you
I’d learn to change the stars
And change our fortunes too
I’d have the constellations paint your portrait too
So all the world might share this wondrous sight
The world could end each night
With one more look at you
With one more look at you
I want one more look at you

I’ll Never Love Again – Lady Gaga

I don’t wanna know this feeling
Unless it’s you and me
I don’t wanna waste a moment, ooh
And I don’t wanna give somebody else the better part of me
I would rather wait for you, ooh

This point is even punctuated by the cutaway to the scene when jack was composing the song – while it is a story about the two, it is mostly about Jack.

A Star Is Born is an impressive display of Cooper’s varied talents, some recognizable performances, and a few worthy songs. But the entirety of the film to me, just doesn’t soar as it seems it should.