It’s undoubtedly one of the most anticipated movies this year. The wait is over and A Star Is Born, quite literally. Bradly Cooper’s directing debut is worth shining a light on and the performances are even more worth speaking about.

A Star Is Born is yet another remake of the 1937 classic. Won’t lie. Haven’t bothered to watch the original and it’s first two remakes. With all due respects, it was hard enough trying to get into the cinema to watch this one, let alone find hours to watch the lengthy other version. If you can’t tell, even this review is overdue.
The 2018 version, just like it’s predecessors, is based around country singer Jackson Maine (Bradley Cooper) who battles alcoholism and an addiction to his prescription medication. He stumbles into a bar, which he quickly discovers is a drag queens venue, and sees an angel when Ally (Lady Gaga) gets on stage and incredibly sings the French song La Vie En Rose. From then, the two are inseparably and doing life together while Ally finds her own way to the top, and Jack, well Jack is just losing grip.
Cooper and Gaga at first seemed like an odd match, but I was way off. The on-screen chemistry between the gorgeous songstress and handsome actor is perfect. And I mean it. There are no faults here. The way they delivered their lines, to the way they coordinated their touches, they made the conversations and presences among each other seem authentic and unscripted. It was natural all the way. Even, Dave Chappelle’s small role as good friend of Jacks, George, had a rawness to it. The way each actor pauses just like your average every day dialogue, and moves to touch and to hold, I can’t remember seeing anything so fluent like that before. That alone gets 5 out of 5.
Then there’s the songs. Shallow, of course is the big number we’ve all heard on the radio. It’s a top quality track and comes in near the start of the film. Ally performs it live on stage with Jack by her side. You can tell that Gaga stepped out of Gaga-verse and became Stefani every time she was on stage. Even during the time her career was turning into a pop one, Gaga did great to make us forget she is Lady Gaga and that she is Ally.
If you’ve heard the soundtrack first, the music will make better sense when you put a scene to it. Such as I’ll Never Love Again. Boy, that one hurt. I had heard it several times before, but once seeing where it falls into the movie, hysterics is an understatement. I was inconsolable for a good 5 minutes after.

Having never watched the original, and the other remakes, I didn’t know anything about the ending. But there is a scene at the very beginning when Jack is being driven around, looking for a bar, and the camera strategically faces upward toward Jack with a billboard in the background with a certain eerie image lit up. When I saw this, my analytical side said, ‘don’t tell me?!’. So, I had an idea how it would end, but still didn’t want to believe it. For those who still haven’t seen it, sorry for putting that in your head now.

I love this film a lot and it’s one I will cherish for the ages. I will love it for its rawness, for its showcasing of authentic love and for the pureness of music. A Star Is Born is beautiful in every way.

Rating: 5/5