Film Review: A Star Is Born

Co-written and directed by Bradley Cooper and a remake of the 1937 film of the same name (marking the fourth remake of the film in total), A Star Is Born follows a troubled musician, Jack (Bradley Cooper) who helps a young, talented singer, Ally (Lady Gaga) find fame, even as age and alcoholism send his own career into a downward spiral.

Rating:

I have been waiting to see this film for so long. My husband wouldn’t go to the cinema to see it with me, so I pre-ordered it on DVD as soon as I could, knowing that it was going to be a film that I loved. I had already fallen in love with the soundtrack so I just had to bide my time to finally get to see this.

A Star Is Born is a beautifully told modern-day romance about a relationship that is equally touching and heartfelt but also tragic and fragile. The characters are developed with such delicacy and admiration that it’s no wonder their story has been told so many times and in so many different ways. It was wasn’t completely what I was expecting it to be, but it was also so much more.

Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper are both phenomenal and lead the film perfectly. Gaga has such a powerful voice and I’m so glad that Cooper gave her the opportunity to play this character and to give us the opportunity to get to know her better. I loved seeing her in American Horror Story but her performance here is something else, so I hope that this opens up many more feature-length roles for her.

Cooper also shows that he has a raw talent in more fields than just acting. As his directorial debut, the film shows so much promise from the star as a writer, director, and also a musician. He really is far more talented than we would have ever imagined, using all of these qualities to create a well-crafted film with one of the best soundtracks of recent years.

The original songs in the film are exceptional. Not only do they help to tell the story with their distinctive lyrics, but Gaga and Cooper perform them magnificently. The one thing that I thought whilst watching the film was that it needed one more original song before the end when the two are at the piano together after Jack’s recovery. Luckily, the film knew exactly what I was thinking and fulfils everything that you are wanting from it.

I do think that the film could have been a little more daring with its ending, as it didn’t have the emotional punch I was expected from it (and then Cooper and Gaga would no doubt be winning all of the awards), but the story is so well-paced and handled that Cooper’s performance reduced me to tears a few times before these final moments.

This is a film that you do not want to miss.