Maestro

[Drunk Monk]

Maestro. Dec 20 Full Trailer

More Oscar bait from Cooper, who directs himself here. Stellar performances, clever cinematography, ruminations about art and artists, all the elements the Academy loves.

I didn’t know much about Bernstein’s personal life so the story was fresh for me. It’s bookended by Bernstein telling his story to a biographer, a cliched device but it works, then switches to B&W for the past and dazzles with some cinematographic acrobatics before settling into solid performances from Cooper, Carey Mulligan, and Sarah Silverman (who plays a great non-comedic role). It moves quickly through milestones and doesn’t bother to show every moment, skipping from scene to scene in a surreal way, before settling into a more traditional story narrative, focused on Bernstein & his wife, Montealegre (Mulligan). 

It’s a beautiful story, well told and powerfully performed. It almost panders to the academy’s tastes and will surely get some Oscar noms. If I were to be critical, that’s its fault. But it makes some grand statements about art that felt authentic. And the juxtaposition of Bernstein’s music gave added poignancy. 

Only D00M recommended if you like this sort of thing.

[Greg]

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