"A Star Is Born"

"A Star Is Born" surprised me. Not because it is good. I had seen the trailers enough times to expect that. And I was ready to see a good movie, having come off a couple of moderately interesting ones ("A Simple Favor" and "Searching," more about which another time) and a stinker ("Night School," a horrible waste of Tiffany Haddish and Kevin Hart). Still, I was not prepared for how very, very, very good "A Star Is Born" proved to be, and how often it moved me.

Even most of you tuning in late know that this is the fourth go-round for the "Star Is Born" story, and I've seen two of the previous ones, the James Mason-Judy Garland gem and the misguided Kris Kristofferson-Barbra Streisand version. (Find John Gregory Dunne's essay about his and Joan Didion's involvement in the writing of that one, a process that -- as Dunne says in "Gone Hollywood" -- included "three drafts, an arbitration, a threatened breach-of-contract suit" and a cash settlement before they departed, with another 14 writers following them before the movie was finally made.) The story is what used to be called a four-hankie weeper, following a love affair between a star on the decline and a woman whose star will shine brighter -- and what that means to their romance.

The leads in this case are Bradley Cooper (who also directed and co-wrote the film) as Jackson Maine, an Allman Brothers-esque rocker who is facing the dual trials of hearing loss and alcoholism, and Lady Gaga, as Ally, a singer and songwriter that Jack hears when he wanders into a drag bar in search of one more drink or three. Jack is smitten the moment he hears Ally, and so are we in the audience, thanks to Lady Gaga's performance and Cooper's direction of it. Underscoring the miracle of that love are the ensuing scenes, where Jack and Ally amble through the night and, most importantly, just talk. Their conversations are themselves little miracles, presented in a way that defies staginess, suggesting we are eavesdropping on two people who are simultaneously getting to know each other and certain that they do. Whatever sorrow awaits them, in that moment they offer joy.

Jack brings Ally on the road with him, and gets her to sing before his huge crowds, and she is, of course, a wow. More riskily, she likes being a wow, and when pop stardom is promised to her, she takes its compromises aplenty because she loves the way a crowd roars. Jack, meanwhile, is not only off to the side, he is increasingly unable to deal with his declining gifts save through booze and drugs, leading to a disastrous moment in his and Ally's lives. If you have seen the previous "A Star is Born" renditions, you will anticipate the new film's turns that are faithful to the predecessors -- but this new one is so strong on its own terms that I found myself hoping that it might find a way out of the inevitable plot turns. Then again, the fact that it carries through to the end makes its final musical performance all the more affecting, especially the cut it makes from the present to the past, from grandeur to one of those simple times that made Jack and Ally love each other so much.

The look of the film reflects the changing lives, starting with a grubbiness that is charming in its ordinariness and then adding slicker, shinier elements as Ally's career booms, with the latter making even more clear that Jack, who sees the real in the grubby, is not a part of Ally's new world. The songs fit the moments; while you'd expect the big vocal from Gaga, Cooper's also good in a narrower frame. Gaga's performance is lovely, free of the vanity you might fear from a pop diva. Then there's Sam Elliott, as Jack's older brother Bobby, providing not only that vintage Sam Elliott authority but a current of hurt that is affecting without Elliott having to say a word.

As for Cooper overall, damn. This may be his best performance ever, made all the more impressive by the fact that he's also directing the movie. (See Ben Affleck in "Argo" for a demonstration of an actor directing himself and failing at it.) He's love-struck, he's sorrowful, he's triumphant onstage and fallen apart off it; he lashes out at the wrong people at the wrong time, and his attempts to make amends are heart-breaking. I just had to root for the guy, even when he was at his worst. 

I was, again, surprised by how emotional I was during the movie, not merely at the end but at all sorts of places along the way. It takes what could have been a soapy rehash or just a means to sell a soundtrack, and used it for something far better, a largely naturalistic character piece, one that gains our admiration even as it breaks our hearts.