Maestro

UK Release Date. 20 December 2023
Certification. 15
Running Time. 2 hours 9 mins
Director. Bradley Cooper
Cast. Matt Bomer, Bradley Cooper, Maya Hawke, Carey Mulligan, Sarah Silverman.
Rating. 45%

Review.

Back in 2018, Bradley Cooper showed what an accomplished filmmaker he was with his directorial debut, A Star Is Born, a film which received eight Academy Award nominations [although not one for Best Director]. His second feature film, Maestro is sure to be equally lauded by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. In Maestro, Bradley Cooper stars as the legendary composer Leonard Bernstein and Carey Mulligan as his long-suffering wife, Felicia Montealegre. Cooper and Mulligan will almost certainly be nominated for Best Actor and Best Actress in this year's Academy Awards, but I can't help feeling Maestro would have been a more complete film if it simply concentrated on telling a compelling story rather than pandering to the Academy. Maestro, it would appear, is a film to admire rather than enjoy.

What I mean by that, is that from the outset, Maestro is aware of its own artistry and impact. Maestro is so obsessed with maintaining the appearance of the highest visual art form possible that it ultimately detracts from the incredible talent on display.  

The film is a biography of Leonard Bernstein, widely considered the first great American conductor. But Bernstein was conflicted throughout his life - wanting to create music as well as conduct. Besides his orchestral, choral and ballet compositions, Bernstein wrote the score for On The Waterfront (1954) and West Side Story (1961). 

While he was known more for his theatrical and orchestral work, Cooper employs a cinematic approach to Bernstein's story, borrowing elements of the aforementioned scores. Much of the early part of the film is filmed in era-appropriate black and white and a 4:3 aspect ratio. Once the film reaches the 1950s, it enters its colour phase and the alluring, old Hollywood sheen sadly wears off.

The film's standout scene is an extraordinary six-minute take of Cooper conducting the London Symphony Orchestra in Gustav Mahler's Resurrection Symphony No. 2 at Ely Cathedral, as Bernstein himself did in 1973. An electrifying piece of fluid, dialogue-free, music-heavy cinematic brilliance that builds to a rousing crescendo and an unexpected reconciliation. 

Maestro is undoubtedly arresting and visually impressive, but the film lacks the necessary emotional punch because of unattractive, egocentric, self-serving characters.