Maestro (2023)

Streaming on Netflix Now

★★★★1/2 (out of 5)

Maestro marks a tremendous leap forward for Bradley Cooper as an artist. Absolutely magnificent work from him both in front of and behind the camera! The film really digs into the soul of Leonard Bernstein in a way that’s sometimes breathtaking to witness. Cooper transforms into Bernstein with a stunning, naturalistic performance that challenges Cillian Murphy for the Oscar! But despite such a great performance from Cooper, it is Carey Mulligan who runs away with the film by the end — she is truly outstanding.

The film truly shows how much Cooper loves filmmaking; it is a visual symphony of a film with so many grand visual flourishes that really impressed me. Cooper truly has great directorial instincts! I loved the distinct look and feel of the movie, the framing and blocking of every shot, it’s a gorgeous film to look at. There are some truly astonishing scenes with stunning cinematography and grand sound design, especially while Leonard Bernstein is conducting. The cathedral scene where Bernstein conducts Mahler’s 2nd symphony is a highlight of the film, where for some six minutes the camera visually locks on Cooper who is clearly conducting the hell out of this gigantic piece of music. You could think of it as the classical music equivalent of one of those holy shit scenes from the Mission: Impossible franchise where Tom Cruise performs the jaw-dropping stunt. This moment was INSANE to witness in the film; a marriage of both brilliant filmmaking and a committed performance. If Cooper wins the Oscar… this scene will be why.

Unfortunately, the screenplay mainly struggles to tie these memorable scenes together into something more cohesive. It also seemed to ignore a lot of Bernstein’s work and had less of a focus on the music than I would have liked, instead focusing on the messy love story between Leonard and Felicia, which for the most part still worked (much like the 2015 Steve Jobs film), I was just left wanting more. However the acting and directing more than make up for it! Plus, the soundtrack which features many Bernstein compositions and pieces he conducted paired with the film wonderfully and truly showed off what a master he was. There is absolute brilliance here, along with some moments that were a little flat. Beautifully reminiscent of classic Hollywood, Maestro is a surprising approach to such a legendary figure as Leonard Bernstein, while working as a showcase for a magnificent Bradley Cooper as both an actor and a director.

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Premise: This love story chronicles the lifelong relationship of conductor-composer Leonard Bernstein and actress Felicia Montealegre Cohn Bernstein.

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Netflix

Directed by Bradley Cooper

Written by Bradley Cooper & Josh Singer

Cast: Carey Mulligan, Bradley Cooper, Matt Bomer, Maya Hawke, Sarah Silverman

Runtime: 2hr 9min

Rating: 14A

Biography, Drama, Music, Romance

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IMDb Rating: 7.3/10

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 81%

RT Audience Score: 90%

RT Critic Average: 7.5/10

RT Audience Average: 4.5/5

Metacritic Score: 78

Letterboxd: 3.6/5

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Fun Fact: Steven Spielberg was considering directing the movie, but when Bradley Cooper showed him an early cut of A Star Is Born (2018), Spielberg walked over to Cooper after the "Shallow" scene and said to him, "You're directing Maestro."

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