Carrie Mulligan is outstanding. Cooper the actor is almost as good. Cooper the director is often breathtaking.
I knew in advance that this was a study of the Bernstein's romance, and not of his creative process as an artist. It is hard to show that creative process in a film. Many times, to portray the trials of creation effectively, a director must expect his audience to have some familiarity with the process. Most of us are not painters, nor dancers, nor composer/conductors. Most of us don't understand how a composer can wrestle with choosing the next note... a 4th or a flat 4th? Such quandaries aren't fascinating to most and are largely unexplored. Films that partially succeed often have crazy protagonists: "Lust for Life"'s Van Gogh, or "Pollock".
Cooper's direction makes frequent use of the "long take", a single shot that can take minutes and has no cuts or edits. These shots give us a sense of "place", we are there: a long take (and long shot from a distance) of the couple talking with arbors of grapevines framing the scene, the couple on either side of a room arguing while the Thanksgiving Day parade floats past the window, and a wonderful six minute long take of Cooper conducting Mahler 2. Kudos to Matthew Libatique's photography.
... and a brief statement to those who complain about the prosthetic: grow up.
On the whole, the movie came up a bit short for me. My takeaways: Mulligan rules, and I can't wait to see what Cooper does next.
I knew in advance that this was a study of the Bernstein's romance, and not of his creative process as an artist. It is hard to show that creative process in a film. Many times, to portray the trials of creation effectively, a director must expect his audience to have some familiarity with the process. Most of us are not painters, nor dancers, nor composer/conductors. Most of us don't understand how a composer can wrestle with choosing the next note... a 4th or a flat 4th? Such quandaries aren't fascinating to most and are largely unexplored. Films that partially succeed often have crazy protagonists: "Lust for Life"'s Van Gogh, or "Pollock".
Cooper's direction makes frequent use of the "long take", a single shot that can take minutes and has no cuts or edits. These shots give us a sense of "place", we are there: a long take (and long shot from a distance) of the couple talking with arbors of grapevines framing the scene, the couple on either side of a room arguing while the Thanksgiving Day parade floats past the window, and a wonderful six minute long take of Cooper conducting Mahler 2. Kudos to Matthew Libatique's photography.
... and a brief statement to those who complain about the prosthetic: grow up.
On the whole, the movie came up a bit short for me. My takeaways: Mulligan rules, and I can't wait to see what Cooper does next.