When a star dies, its elements are dispersed throughout the space, giving rise to other stars: this seems to be the cosmic bottom line of 'A Star is Born', Bradley Cooper's debut as a movie director, who also stars next to Lady Gaga in this movie.
This is the fourth Hollywood film that has a title and story arc on a star that rises while another one dims. The first came out in 1937, focused on an actress starting her career (Janet Gaynor) and a well-established actor (Fredric March) whose alcoholism caused his own career to plummet. The film was remade in 1954 with Judy Garland and James Mason, and then in 1976, set in the world of music, with Barbra Streisand and Kris Kristofferson. As a curious fact, in the newest movie they did a tribute to Streisand since the character of Gaga had given up being a singer because she refused to change his nose.
Although the cinematography is different in each era, the concept remains the same: an alcoholic man, Jackson Maine (Bradley Cooper), experienced in the world of entertainment, meets a talented, authentic and younger woman: Ally (Gaga) and falls in love with her almost at first sight. Then, he introduces her to the music business, which he has already conquered, and they get married just when the industry begins to notice her. Though they support each other, his love for her is not enough for him to overcome his depression, and he ends up dragging the woman he loves.
The soundtrack was great at every moment of the movie, even the discordant songs of Ally, in her pop moment, show that Jack is going away, creating the sound basis for the beginning of the breaking point. Artists of different musical genres wrote and produced the songs: Jason Isbell, Lukas Nelson, Mark Ronson, Diane Warren, among others. Bradley Cooper also participated in the process and, of course, Lady Gaga worked with several of her collaborators to write Ally's songs. "Shallow", the song played by Ally and Jackson, could be a bet on the Best Original Song nominations at the 2019 Oscars. It's noteworthy that all the musical scenes were recorded live, without synchronized dubbing, as Gaga required it to record the film.
Although the movie tells a story already told - falling on the cliché - A Star Is Born compensates its narrative setbacks through the brilliant performance of Bradley Cooper. In addition, the chemistry between Cooper and Lady Gaga, the tormented Jack Maine and the luminous Ally, is powerful, and their musical performances, all recorded live, were touching.
The director of cinematography was the Oscar nominee, Matthew Libatique ("Black Swan"), who chose hand-held (often shot by himself), Steadicam (camera stabilizer) and long tracking shots with two Alexa mini cameras since the film dominates the follow-up of artists in different scenarios. Although close-ups are also introduced, especially at the beginning of the love story.
The perspective of proximity in the concerts and private moments between Jack and Ally is also perceived through the colors that describe the world of Jack Maine: cyan and red, but the palette changes to a mixture of those colors to create the magenta pop of Ally. In addition, Libatique plays with the contrasts between black and white, light and dark, to symbolize key transitions of the protagonists.
In spite of the fact that one of the main messages sent by the film is not just "being authentic", but rather that those who see us love us for what they see; the film works, above all, as a melodrama about the limits and possibilities of love, and how it can turn us into the best and worst versions of ourselves.