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Maestro (2023)

 


Maestro is a love story about a composter and conductor who falls in love with an actress.

I have to talk about something that I wouldn't normally talk about first. The makeup department should be nominated for an Oscar as I couldn't tell that was Bradley Cooper until I really heard his typical voice come out. Cooper sometimes has a hard time hiding that charm. Written and directed by Cooper, I wish the film would have really had a better marketing plan and a theatrical release as this being a Netflix movie actually limits it and I doubt most people will watch this.

I have a bias toward Carey Mulligan positively so I'll keep my notes on her brief. While I imagine she'll be nominated for an Oscar for the film I found certain parts of her performance to be trying too hard.

The delivery of the dialogue is given way too fast in the first scene between Cooper and Mulligan to establish that these two are our leads. They also talk over each other like this is an Aaron Sorkin film which at some point it felt like it was trying to be. There is some great writing in how the film plays out though. It hits on cultural topics that are very important for 2023.

I wouldn't want to watch the film again but the performance by Cooper is great. I'd recommend this for only some people as I feel most people would be bored to tears or just not turn it on in the first place. Result: B+

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