“Maestro” could bring Bradley Cooper that Oscar nomination for helming that he missed out on in 2019 for his directorial debut, “A Star is Born.” He co-wrote, produced, starred in, and directed that movie, and he does the same here with this Leonard Bernstein biopic. “Maestro,” hit US theaters on Nov. 22 before it starts streaming on Netflix on Dec. 20. The story tells the tale of Bernstein’s (Cooper) marriage to Carey Mulligan’s Felicia Montealegre and it is a sweeping love story made with panache and skill by a filmmaker who is proving that a star has, indeed, been born.
“Maestro” has earned rave reviews and cements Cooper’s status as a top-quality director. He fills the film with such flourish and flare, elevating it from a simple biopic to a movie for cinema lovers. Each time period is made and shot in the style of films from that era. It’s a clever move, and Cooper’s love of Bernstein shines through with every scene.
Another wise decision from Cooper is the fact that we see very little of Bernstein conducting throughout the film. We curiously cut away just before he gets to work. Then, right towards the end of the movie, we get an extended sequence of Cooper’s Bernstein conducting Mahler’s Resurrection Symphony at Ely Cathedral in Cambridge, England. The scene is all the more powerful because we hadn’t seen Bernstein conducting until that moment.
Critics have singled out Cooper’s work as a director.
Nicholas Barber (BBC) observed: “It takes courage to direct a film that was due to be made, at various times, by Steven Spielberg or Martin Scorsese, both of whom stayed on as producers. But Maestro confirms what was suggested by Cooper’s directorial debut, ‘A Star is Born.’ He has sky-high ambitions, and he has the technical virtuosity and big-hearted sincerity to fulfill those ambitions with flair.”
Phil de Semylen (Time Out) noted: “Big names have had a crack at it, with Scorsese and Spielberg each once attached to this long-gestating biopic, but it’s finally found the perfect foil in Bradley Cooper. He throws himself into the twin duties of directing and playing the man himself on-screen with the kind of no-stone-unturned dedication that would leave you unsurprised to discover that he’s bashed out a couple of symphonies himself as prep.”
Owen Gleiberman (Variety) opined: “Cooper, in the second film he has directed (after ‘A Star Is Born’), places himself on a high wire and carries it off. In ‘Maestro,’ he works with a pointillistic intimacy that invests every moment with fascination and surprise.”
Currently, however, Cooper is outside of our five predicted nominees for Best Director: Christopher Nolan (“Oppenheimer”), Martin Scorsese (“Killers of the Flower Moon”), Yorgos Lanthimos (“Poor Things”), Greta Gerwig (“Barbie”), and Jonathan Glazer (“The Zone of Interest”). Cooper is on the precipice along with Alexander Payne (“The Holdovers”), Justine Triet (“Anatomy of a Fall”), and Celine Song (“Past Lives”).
Cooper could be on the rise. Glazer’s film, “The Zone of Interest,” could be a polarizing one — it certainly won’t be everyone’s favorite flavor. The same could be said for Gerwig’s “Barbie.” Cooper’s “Maestro,” is a biopic about an creative genius. There’s something about artists making films about other artists that always goes down well here.
Among the more recent Best Director nominees for such fare: Todd Field (“Tár” in 2023), Steven Spielberg (“The Fabelmans” in 2023), Ryusuke Hamaguchi (“Drive My Car” in 2022), Paul Thomas Anderson (“Licorice Pizza” in 2022), David Fincher (“Mank” in 2021), and Quentin Tarantino (“Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” in 2020).
And Cooper’s talent is now undeniable. He didn’t go for something a little easier for his follow-up film. He pursued another ambitious passion project and took a big swing with this Bernstein biopic. Voters will surely be impressed with that and may feel like they need to make it up to Cooper after snubbing him last time.
Overall, the academy clearly likes Cooper, who has nine Oscar nominations to date. He has reaped three Best Actor bids: “Silver Linings Playbook” in 2013, “American Sniper” in 2015, and “A Star is Born” in 2019. He’s also picked up a Best Supporting Actor nomination (for “American Hustle” in 2014) and a Best Adapted Screenplay bid (for “A Star is Born”). Surprisingly, the category he has received the most nominations in is Best Picture — with four so far. His first came in 2015 for “American Sniper” and he was nominated in 2019 for “A Star is Born,” which he also wrote and directed. He contended in 2020 for “Joker” and in 2022 for “Nightmare Alley.” “Joker” is the only one of the four Best Picture bids in which he did not appear.
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