Maestro

Director: Bradley Cooper
Starring: Carey Mulligan, Bradley Cooper, Matt Bomer, Vincenzo Amato, Greg Hildreth, Michael Urie, Brian Klugman, Nick Blaemire, Mallory Portnoy, Sarah Silverman, Zachary Booth, Maya Hawke, Gideon Glick, Josh Hamilton
Running Time: 129 min.
Rating: R

**The Following Review Contains Major Plot Details For 'Maestro' **

★★★ ½ (out of ★★★★)

Mocked by some for being calculated Oscar bait, actor/director Bradley Cooper's long gestating dream project covering the life of legendary composer Leonard Bernstein does share certain similarities with traditionally familiar biopics. But in condensing the essence of this towering, troubled figure into barely over two hours, Maestro also takes some big swings that will probably rattle purists only interested in Bernstein's process as an artist. This focuses more on the moments, as Cooper and co-writer Josh Singer cleverly forego the nuts and bolts of the man's career to focus entirely on his rocky marriage.

Spanning decades, Cooper's selective in what's covered, displaying an incredible grasp of time and place when exploring the challenges of being caught in the orbit of a conflicted, complicated talent who never feels satisfied. After a deliberate start, it only gets better, building momentum before landing a devastatingly painful and realistic final blow. There's a Kane-like quality to how this all unfolds that extends past its monochrome opening, as Cooper makes adventurous creative choices both in front of and behind the camera. Held up by Matthew Libatique's astounding cinematography, the makeup, costuming and production design, the film's a marvel to look at, and for all the jokes about Cooper's self serious intentions, it's the results onscreen that speak loudest.

It's 1943 when 25-year-old assistant conductor of the New York Philharmonic Leonard Bernstein (Cooper) fills in for an ill Bruno Walter, with the performance earning strong enough accolades to launch the young talent to considerable fame. While still in a casual relationship with clarinetist David Oppenheim (Matt Bomer), he soon meets aspiring actress Felicia Montealagre (Mulligan) at a party, eventually leaving him to date and marry her. 

Together the couple have three children, with Leonard composing several successful Broadway musicals as Felicia's stage career flourishes. With the 60's wearing on, his affairs with men and dependency on drugs and alcohol become impossible for her to ignore, taking a toll on their marriage and tearing the family apart. But after finally rediscovering his love for Felicia and his work, unimaginable tragedy strikes, altering the remainder of Leonard's life.  

The story kicks off in black and white with an energetic opening sequence that sees Leonard jumping out of bed and sprinting to Carnegie Hall as the strains of his On the Waterfront score blast over the soundtrack. It grabs you right away, moving a mile a minute before settling into a slightly more predictable rhythm when he first meets Felicia. The first of the film's visually spectacular sequences comes with a rehearsal for On the Town where he all but announces his bisexuality to Felicia, even as it's clear she's fallen too hard to take the hint. Headstrong as Felicia is, her naivete lies in believing her future husband's vices won't matter if she can just keep him in line. 

Cooper plants the seeds early that Lenny's a man constantly craving the presence of others, to the point he can't even be in a bathroom without the door open. For him, the solitary nature of composing is a struggle compared to the satisfaction he gets conducting, which comfortably places him at the center of attention. Part egomaniac and insecure basket case, Cooper conveys these contradictions while also physically capturing Bernstein in eerily accurate ways, such as his nasally vocal inflection. As for the prosthetic nose, it's a lot of fuss about something that would hardly get a second look if not for all the manufactured controversy. 

Kazu Hiro and his makeup team deserve credit for flawlessly aging Cooper into the 70-year-old Bernstein who appears in the bookending scenes. And true to the period, get ready to see enough cigarette smoking for the film to justify its own Surgeon General's warning, which is almost comical considering how the notoriously safe and family friendly Steven Spielberg co-produced. 

The shift from black-and-white to 60's and 70's Technicolor accompanies the dramatic momentum when Lenny and Felicia's marriage crashes amidst his addictions and infidelity. Mulligan's sensational in this section, portraying the pain of a woman unable to continue standing on the sidelines as he flaunts his escapades in her face. When they eventually have it out in a Thanksgiving screaming match at their New York City Dakota apartment, their argument ends with a brilliantly surreal cameo from a cartoon icon that speaks to Cooper's directorial talents and his understanding of the absurdity found in everyday life. 

That showdown and Lenny lying straight to college-aged daughter Jamie's (Maya Hawke) face about his infidelities hit in powerfully different ways, but his conducting of Mahler's second symphony at England's Ely Cathedral is the picture's pinnacle. It's a euphoric and moving six-minute sequence that sees Cooper enthrallingly recreate the maestro's sweaty 1973 performance with tireless physicality, hypnotizing us as the sensation of pure cinema courses through our veins.

If it's hard to buy the claim this is Felicia's story when she's rarely given a scene without him, Carey Mulligan still makes a great case for her being his equal, adding depth and dimension to a thoughtfully written part. That it comes in support of someone else is fine since Lenny's supposed to suck up all the air in the room as she laments his inability to change, or rather a refusal to. The script doesn't evade Lenny's moral shortcomings, but gives him the redemption of being there when needed most, as Mulligan owns the last act with her heartbreaking portrayal. The grim cancer diagnosis is unflinchingly difficult to watch, with the actress continuing to display the character's same grit and stubbornness, even as she fades away in her family's arms. 

There's no mistaking this is a showcase for Cooper, but it's also his career best, touching on more than a few elements that run parallel to the star's own career. Directing this as if he really has something to prove, it's an intriguing quasi-prequel to 2022's Tár, which centered around another embattled conductor, albeit a fictional one. And now her idolization of Bernstein strangely makes even more sense after this. If that film had the market cornered on provoking debate, Maestro is all about feelings and vibes, giving viewers a peek into the tormented genius whose life seemed to flash before everyone's eyes.