Article by Olivia Simonson. Photo by Olivia Simonson.
On Jan. 30 through Feb. 2, the Huskies Events and Activities Team (HEAT) at St. Cloud State showed the movie A Star is Born in the Atwood Theater, a 2018 movie starring Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga. The movie received eight nominations at the 2019 Academy Awards and five nominations at the 2019 Golden Globes. It won best original song for “Shallow” at both awards shows.
I will open by saying that this review will be biased, as it is my opinion, but my judgments are backed up with facts (in my opinion). I will be taking into consideration public perception and actual production, quality and writing, while also discussing my own thoughts.
After viewing the film, I can see why the ratings are so high. The film scores a 7.6/10 on IMDB, and has a Rotten Tomatoes score of 90%. A Star is Born earns these ratings by dealing with such complex themes of love paired with addiction and conformity. The title itself is a bit misleading – while a star is indeed born, another star is going supernova, collapsing in on themself and ultimately dying out.
The film opens with Jackson Maine, played by Bradley Cooper, performing at a stadium filled with thousands of fans. We quickly learn that Maine is an alcoholic and a drug addict, with his drinking being triggered by his stardom and his being on stage. After his show one night, he stops at a bar, where he meets Ally, played by Lady Gaga. Ally is a singer who is working a dead-end job and living with her dad. Maine watches Ally sing and realizes her talent, spending the night with her and asking her to come to his show the next day. When she arrives, he pulls her on stage to sing, and Ally is thrust into stardom, with the rest of the movie showing her success as an artist while Maine begins to spiral downwards out of the limelight.
The tension between Ally and Maine is prevalent from the moment they meet, meanwhile the audience rooting for them to end up together. As the movie progresses, their relationship twists into something darker as Maine’s addiction worsens. Their relationship seems toxic to any sane viewer, with them both spewing insults at each other anytime Maine is drunk.
Another twist in their relationship comes into play when Ally’s manager starts changing her image as a star. She goes from being a redneck singer to every other female pop star in our world. The manager gets her dancers and reframes her appearance, changing her hair color and clothes to better suit her “image.” This reality of stardom – going from being a person to being a brand – puts another strain on Ally and Maine’s relationship, adding another level of complexity to the film.
The production of this movie also adds intricacies to the film that make it both visually pleasing to look at and interesting to dissect. There are so many moments where Ally is standing alone in the middle of the screen, especially earlier in the film. This is then mirrored at the very end when she is alone on stage, and the final view we get is of her face. While moviegoers may not take note of these subtle frames spread throughout the movie, they foreshadow how the film ends – with Ally alone.
The movie also uses lighting to create moods, as many films do, but what I enjoyed was the use of the red lighting. Red lighting appears whenever a character was insecure or, in Maine’s case, getting lost in his addiction. It’s such a subtle thing, but it is one of the more powerful choices made in production and sticks around with the viewer long after the credits have rolled. There are other colors presented throughout the film, such as yellows and blues, but none compare to the red we see in most of the movie.
Personally, I think this is a film I am going to have to rewatch to truly understand everything this movie is communicating, and I am a firm believer that a good film will require this process. This time around, my focus was on the addiction aspect because it is the first thing presented, but a rewatch would allow me to focus on Ally’s conformity to her manager’s style and the “Ally” brand.
Another aspect of this film that warrants discussing is the music. While there are songs that stand out and make the movie what it is, most of the songs get lost in the background, which I believe was intentional. This wasn’t meant to be a traditional musical with every song being added to a playlist. The movie was meant to show how a star is born, and a part of that is the music, but it’s not what the audience is supposed to take away from the film. Songs like “Shallow” and “Always Remember Us This Way” deserve the attention they receive, but not every song on this track is a hit, and they’re not supposed to be.
Overall, this movie is one that has so many things involved that it can feel a bit overwhelming in the best way possible. Its themes are complex and make the viewer question where it’s going while also being visually stunning and musically amazing, with characters that the audience will grow to both love and hate along the way.
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