A Star Is Born

One of the elements I appreciated most about the new version of A Star Is Born is how accurately it captured the ecstatic state of live music. The word ecstatic comes from ancient Greek roots that basically translate to “standing outside of your own mind.” That rapturous, oceanic, out-of-body feeling that accompanies seeing really good music played right in front of you is hard to replicate, and yet, in his first outing as a director, Bradley Cooper has managed to repeatedly capture it as he retells one of Hollywood’s most beloved myths. This is the fourth official version of this story following the ones released in 1937, 1954, and 1976 and there have been even more unofficial remakes over the years. The story is always basically the same. A fading star meets and falls in love with a talented newcomer whose fame eventually overshadows his own, and things inevitably end badly.

 

In this version, Cooper plays Jackson Maine, a 70s flavored songwriter/rocker who has lost his zeal for performing, his sobriety (if he ever had it), and his hearing. After just another night on stage in front of thousands of screaming fans, he retreats into the nearest bar possible. It ends up being a drag bar which happens to feature a performance by Ally, a former waitress who still comes back to sing once in a while. Ally, of course, is played by an earthy, de-glammed Lady Gaga. Maine is immediately smitten and the two spend the night getting to know each other, talking about music, songwriting, and celebrity.

Within days, Maine flies Ally to his next concert to have her duet with him onstage with a song she wrote. The song goes viral and Ally’s rise to stardom begins. The two are passionately in love with each other, despite Maine’s inability to stay sober for long. They tour, perform, and write together, and soon a slick manager approaches Ally about having her own career. Her meteoric ascent is directly connected to Maine’s dissolution.

The performances are genuinely great across the board. Cooper’s character is grizzled and half-in-the-bag for most of the film but it’s never boring or one-note. His affection for Ally is always clear and fully-realized, and his rediscovered love of performing and music is exhilarating. Lady Gaga as Ally is down-to-earth, smart, suspicious, and loving all at once. She seems like the kind of person and performer someone could fall in love with after one song.

It is Cooper and Gaga’s film, no question, but all the other roles, small as they may be, are rich and fully developed. Greg Grunberg as Maine’s limo driver, Andrew Dice Clay as Ally’s father, and Dave Chapelle as one of Maine’s old buddies are each standouts who do so much with a small amount of screen time.

Besides all of this or perhaps even before all of it is the music. Cooper clearly never met a shaky handheld close-up he didn’t love, but in this instance, that closeness and immediacy really captures the vitality and excitement of the music and live performances. The concert sequences feel electric and, frankly, ecstatic. From the thunderous opener, “Black Eyes” to the tender ballad “Maybe It’s Time” to the tearjerking final number “I’ll Never Love Again,” each song is worthy to stand on its own as a piece of music but also propels the story forward and gives movie goers sitting in your average multiplex the feeling of seeing really great music played by talented, passionate musicians live on stage.

 The new A Star is Born appears to have made a compelling, authentic actress out of Lady Gaga, a skilled and visceral director out of Bradley Cooper, and a fresh version of a story that’s been told in one way or another for over 80 years. It’s worth seeing and hearing.