300 Words on "A Star is Born" (2018)

It isn’t hard to forget that this marks the fourth time that A Star is Born has gone before the cameras and going into it, I confess to wondering whether another go-round was necessary.

I was proven that it absolutely was.

The movie firmly grasped the general ideas of its previous iterations and impeccably updated them to the modern day. Never once while watching was I looking for the seams; the story woven by screenwriters Bradley Cooper, Eric Roth, and Will Fetters never felt like it was tired or overdone, leaning on the prestige of its predecessors to survive.

Watching A Star is Born felt like attending a concert. The precise camerawork and choreography of cinematographer Matthew Libatique and first-time director Cooper devised for the film’s rock concert centerpieces placed the viewer directly on the stage in a way which made the music resonate more loudly and the stage lights flash more brightly than one could imagine them on a projector screen.

But for all the glitz and glamor of A Star is Born, it never lost sight of its focus: the relationship between boozing musician Jack (Cooper), and his protégé-turned-love-interest, Ally (Lady Gaga). In their central performances, Cooper and Gaga were simply stellar, assuming their parts fully and totally disappearing into them. I can heap much praise on A Star is Born, but perhaps the greatest testament to its sheer power as a film is in its central performances. Cooper and Gaga may be internationally-known superstars but there were times while watching when I totally forget their existence as performers.

A Star is Born is a poignant look behind the shiny veneer of the music industry and it was absolutely engaging throughout. To put it simply, the film is honestly one of the most powerful movie-going experiences I have had in quite some time.