Director: Bradley Cooper
Starring: Carey Mulligan, Bradley Cooper, Matt Bomer, Vincenzo Amato
Certificate: 15
Run Time: 129 mins

Maestro is the sophomore writer-director effort by actor Bradley Cooper, after A Star Is Born (2018) which earned7 lots of awards love. Conversely, I didn’t think his remake was up to much, despite Lady Gaga’s committed performance. Cooper moves to Netflix for Maestro, a biopic about composer Leonard Bernstein covering his conducting debut at the New York Philharmonic in 1943 to 1987, nine years after the death of his wife, Felicia Montealegre. The film was originally meant to be directed by Martin Scorsese but he opted to work on The Irishman instead, allowing Cooper to board the film. Scorsese remains in a producing capacity, as does Steven Spielberg who also considered directing the film at one point. 

Every year, there is at least one (if not multiple) undeserving Awards films and for 2024, that honour goes to Maestro. Bradley Cooper is so infatuated with himself, so hungry for Awards success that he doesn’t tell anything meaningful about Bernstein at all. The film is completely inert of energy and a real chore to sit through for its extended 129 minute run time. 

While Cooper may look like Bernstein with a fake schnozz and wrinkles, he’s just playing himself. Even Carey Mulligan, who generally shines in everything she’s in, fails to make much of an impression as Felicia Montealegre, because the film doesn’t dig into the psyche of her character at all. Rather miserably, the only scene I felt anything for her character is when she is diagnosed with cancer. The chemistry between Cooper and Mulligan is non-existent 

The decision to race through the composer’s first 15 years in 45 minutes and then stay fixated on a shorter period throughout the rest of the film is an odd decision. Cooper isn’t sure what the focus of the film should be, veering between Bernstein’s early conducting success, his relationship with Felicia and his debauchery and the result is a film that feels superficial. One can learn more about Bernstein from his Wikipedia page than from Maestro. 

Even Matthew Libatique, Darren Aronofsky’s preferred cinematographer, fails to inject his signature personality into the film. This is despite the stylistic use of black-and-white and a classical Hollywood 4:3 aspect ratio used in Bernstein’s early years which then switches to widescreen and colour. 

Maestro is a disappointing failure that fails to meaningfully explore Bernstein’s career and Cooper’s direction and performance comes across as smug and desperate for Awards success. Luckily, with Oppenheimer and Killers of the Flower Moon likely looking set to dominate, I’m hopeful Maestro won’t win anything but it’s a shame a film as desperate as this will almost certainly still receive undeserved recognition. 

⭐ (Terrible)