Listening for the music in “A Star is Born”
Is the new film “A Star is Born” a musical? This seems a bizarre question to ask. Obviously it is a musical. Except, this week it was announced that the musical (?) love-story would be competing at the Golden Globe Awards in the Drama category rather than in the Musical/Comedy category. And whether this was a move to secure maximum awards hardware, or a reflection of the film’s own ethos, I went into the screening for it this week thinking about the film’s relationship with music, and musicals.
“A Star is Born” (the fourth version of a story made in 1932, then as a musical in 1954, and 1976) centres on a singer (an actress in the first two versions) who rises to fame, supported by her love-affair with a professional in her field, whose career begins to plummet as her star rises. It is both a story about the difficulty of achieving and keeping fame in an industry that destroys you and about a love across genres and dispositions. This new version, directed, co-produced, co-written and co-starring leading man Bradley Cooper, seems to have its finger more on the pulse of the love-story than the music industry.
It’s a warm film – the embers of love that join countryrock star Jackson Maine (played by Cooper) and ingénue Ally (played by Lady Gaga) are manifested in the formal aspects of the film, which all echo a comforting warmness. Most noticeable is Matthew Libatique’s cinematography, which privileges colour; there’s a recurring fiery redness that envelopes either Cooper’s falling star or Lady Gaga’s rising star in a hue that dazzles and warms. Even when the familiar story hurtles towards its tragic ending in the final act, the audience is still enveloped in warmth. In this iteration, the star-maker’s regard for his star never seems borne out of jealousy or contempt; instead he remains earnestly love struck throughout. When I saw the film at the Toronto International Festival last month, I left thinking about the way it seemed disinterested in commenting on its musicality. The recent awards’ announcement had me thinking about it again. Does the focus on love over industry predicate the film’s competition in drama or was I reading too much into this?
The meta-narrative of this latest “A Star is Born” like the three previous iterations, seems key. Janet Gaynor, in the first version, had won the first Best Actress award by the time she played the ingénue; Judy Garland was struggling with alcoholism by the time she played the wideeyed Esther Hoffman; and Barbra Streisand’s rock version (often maligned but more thoughtful in its departure from a nubile star in many ways) seems a commentary on her own star, pronounced by the infamous title-credit that ends the film – “Ms Streisand’s clothes from…her closet.” Cooper’s directorial debut follows in that light, casting pop superstar Lady Gaga as Ally, who makes her way to the top of the stratosphere. In this digital age, we are even more privy to the private lives of celebrities than before—access that immediately affects and bends our belief in the mythmaking that tends to come with fame. And “A Star is Born” depends on the proximity of its audience to Lady Gaga’s own fame. The film’s press tour has seemed to emphasise the relationship between the more demure Ally of the film and the Lady Gaga (aka Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta) of reality. Or “reality.” The fact that the congenial warmness of “A Star is Born” has made way for a minor critical battle, with camps pro the films populist congeniality and those unimpressed by its schmaltzy competence, is somewhat tiring to witness in an awards season that seems bound to get tiring. But I suspect that the pages of writing on the film and what it means are not just indicative of myopia of the critical intelligentsia with an eye on legacy or awards, but a more intriguing commentary on the way the film invites consideration via its real stars and their fictional avatars.
It was why I was excited to catch the film when it opened in Guyanese theatres this week, removed from a festival atmosphere. The chatter during previews proved me right as I heard whispers of “Can Lady Gaga act?” and “I love her music.” Gaga’s celebrity pull will inform a key aspect of anyone’s relationship to the film. For the fans and non-fans, it offers a new iteration of the