This movie had been playing in Indonesian theaters since last Friday. My wife and I were quite unsure whether we wanted to see this one or skip it. For me was because I thought it was a musical which was not really my favorite genre and only watched it if I was really in the mood. While my wife was not really interested as she thought it was the story of Lady Gaga and the songs were all country type (which was probably my fault for providing that false impression). Anyway after her sister and friends told her the movie was very good, we decided to give it a try. So last night we went to the nearest cinema and saw it at the 6.30 PM show. OK will start with the story now.
Brief Story Line
Jackson Maine (Bradley Cooper - Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2, American Hustle etc) was a famous country singer and writer who unfortunately was an alcoholic and drug addict. When he went to a drag bar looking for drinks, he met with a part time singer named Ally (Lady Gaga) who also worked as a waitress. Jackson was mesmerized by her performance and they hit it off quite easily with Ally's song writing ability amazed him as well.
During a concert on the following day, Jackson who was having a bit of disagreement with his manager/brother Bobby (Sam Elliott - Ghost Rider, Tombstone etc) invited Ally on stage to sing the song she had written. That performance which made it to Youtube really did Ally's father Lorenzo (Andrew Dice Clay - The Adventures of Ford Farlaine etc) proud. It did not take long for Ally to get spotted by a famous music producer Rez (Rafi Gavron) who promised her she would become a great artist. As their relationship getting more intense, Jackson was getting deeper with his addiction and things also became worse when Bobby who had been taking care of him became more distant.
So what would happen to these two people who was very much deeply in love? Find them all in this quite heavy love story filled with nice music.
End of Brief Story Line
OK, I mentioned above that I thought this was a musical movie. It turned out I was wrong. This was not a musical movie like The Greatest Showman or Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again. This was a movie about singer with lot of songs sung by the lead cast who happened to be singers in the story. I understood wrongly because the biggest movie database website categorized this one under "music" genre, just like La La Land which led me to believe this as a musical. Anyway, apart from that misunderstanding, I already knew that this was a drama. So I was already embracing myself to be captivated by the story. And it was indeed a nice story, a simple one about the love between a man and a woman, but beautifully done that made us audience truly believed of the powerful love they shared.
I gotta say that the movie was very interesting because of the very convincing performance by the main cast. I was amazed by Bradley Cooper who was very believable as an alcoholic singer, especially those drunk scenes which were greatly done that I was totally convinced he was really drunk when doing those scenes. And from what I understand, he took some vocal lessons to be able to perform his singing. Plus I was also surprised by his very good southern accent. Meanwhile I was also quite surprised by Lady Gaga's performance in here as I thought she was an amazing singer, but not yet as an actress (though she did play in American Horror Story: Hotel which unfortunately I have not watched yet, so I could not say anything on that). I think this was most likely because of the ability of Bradley Cooper in his directorial debut in bringing out her best. Oh another person that impressed me was Sam Elliot as Bobby, Jackson's brother.
The songs in this film was quite impressive, though not all of them I really enjoyed. My most favorite songs would have to be Always Remember Us This Way, Shallow and that last song I'll Never Love Again which was sooooo beautiful. The song really captured the essence of the movie even from the title and the lyrics. My God that song really was a tear jerker and my wife could not stop crying watching the scene when Lady Gaga was singing it and since it was the last song which wrapped up the movie, I noticed that there were a lot of people who were still crying on their seats when the lights were switch on. There was also another scene that was quite emotional involving Jackson and Bobby in the car.
Now apart from the amazing performances and some really good songs, I was personally a bit disappointed with the way the story ended. I know I should have been able to guessed it (just like my wife did) but still I was unable to accept it. And the movie also sometimes had really long pause between dialogues which probably was how Bradley Cooper wanted it (plus there were scenes that I felt a bit too close up). However those minor "flaws" were mostly covered by the great performances. And the movie duration was a bit long for me personally with 134 minutes, though my wife felt it was just nice. I knew that there was no mid or post end credit scene, but both of us still waited till it completely finished as I wanted to see the list of songs. Oh funnily enough, it was said to be having Dolby Atmos sound system, so it was a pity the movie did not play in those cinemas. It might have been an even greater experience.
As a drama movie aimed to satisfy the audience who were fans of this genre, I thought this was just perfect for them. Btw, this movie was having R rating and there were surprisingly few brief love making scene (and nude scene) that were not cut by Indonesian censorship body. So this movie was definitely one for adults. I do not think children would enjoy this movie anyway, although stranger things have happened.
Overall, this was a great drama movie, complete with nice songs. Fans of Lady Gaga would have loved this movie just because she was in it, but the neutral audience could still enjoy the movie since I personally thought it was a good performance by the cast. And those who love romantic movie (not the rom-com type) would also be able to enjoy it. Fair warning for guys, be ready to be pressured by your girlfriends or wives to see this movie together. If you are awards-minded kind of audience, I also think you would love this one as it had the quality to be nominated (There were already talks of such nomination which we'll know soon enough in the coming months).
Happy watching!
Mike's movie moments rating: 4 out of 5 stars
PS: This movie apparently was a fourth remake of the same story, with the first one as early as 1937. There were the other remakes in 1954 and 1976 which were both musical version. And even in 2003 a Bollywood version.
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