I really wanted to love this movie. It's a biopic on Leonard Bernstein - one of the most beloved musicians of the last century. It's backed by solid performances from Bradley Cooper and Carey Mulligan. The production values are very high. There's just one thing that's glaringly absent from a movie about a composer - the music. Sure, there's a nice selection that serves as background music, but it misses the point. Bernstein talks a lot in this movie about the music and how it drives him, but you don't see nearly enough of how it drives him. The movie is solely about Bernstein's complicated relationship with his wife Felicia Montelegre. If you've never heard of Leonard Bernstein before watching this movie, you will be left with no real idea of his accomplishments as a composer and what they meant. You won't know anything about the many controversies surrounding his works, and the social statements that many of them featured. If you are versed in Bernstein, then you will be looking for the music and its influence in addition to the relationship.
Now, I do see what they were going for with this movie. Bernstein was quite a complicated figure, as all great minds are. And he did have a series of affairs, including affairs with men. This is true, and he's far from alone among great minds in those regards. That just can't be the entirety of the movie. Even still, not much of Bernstein's character is presented beyond the affairs. It's like the movie can't pick a lane on how dramatic it wants to be. Think of all the music biopics out there. Are there any that completely do away with the music like this? There are glimpses of that love for music present in the movie. The scene where he's conducting the Mass at Ely Cathedral, one of his most notable performances, was excellently done. That is what we want to see.
There are things to like about Maestro. The leading performances by Bradley Cooper and Carey Mulligan are very good, particularly Mulligan. The costume and production design are solid. The music selection, while it should have a greater focus, is a very nice selection, a Bernstein highlight reel. And, as mentioned, there are scenes in which the passion for music shines through. It's just not enough. This was a cruelly disappointing movie, one that had so much potential to live up to.
Now, I do see what they were going for with this movie. Bernstein was quite a complicated figure, as all great minds are. And he did have a series of affairs, including affairs with men. This is true, and he's far from alone among great minds in those regards. That just can't be the entirety of the movie. Even still, not much of Bernstein's character is presented beyond the affairs. It's like the movie can't pick a lane on how dramatic it wants to be. Think of all the music biopics out there. Are there any that completely do away with the music like this? There are glimpses of that love for music present in the movie. The scene where he's conducting the Mass at Ely Cathedral, one of his most notable performances, was excellently done. That is what we want to see.
There are things to like about Maestro. The leading performances by Bradley Cooper and Carey Mulligan are very good, particularly Mulligan. The costume and production design are solid. The music selection, while it should have a greater focus, is a very nice selection, a Bernstein highlight reel. And, as mentioned, there are scenes in which the passion for music shines through. It's just not enough. This was a cruelly disappointing movie, one that had so much potential to live up to.