In spite of his achievements I'm not sure that Leonard Bernstein is typical Netflix fare or popcorn movie fodder - I don't think the film will have a mass audience appeal beyond those who are interested in the music and man.

Bradley Cooper received a lot of praise from family members, for what it's worth.

Many thanks Robert - I will never look at an electric carving knife in the same way.

Classical music can be a big turn off for so many people sadly, as we know. 

I think this film will purely appeal to those who are interested in Bernstein and the music - I don't think punters will watch expecting a cosy BC love story ... 

LOL!!  

I may have completely underestimated the appeal of this film Tim, I’d have thought most of the Star is Born types to turn their noses up about some dead classical music dude.

I will be very happy to be proved wrong though and it will be an interesting cultural 'barometer' in the USA (and elsewhere) to see what kind of box office it does. I would expect it to do pretty well over parts of Europe where this kind of music is strongly supported.  Perhaps it can pull in the older audience who revere Bernstein for what he was, and a younger audience who love Bradley.  That would be the best outcome.

Go on, I think you should see it Tim, it will be interesting to hear your opinion. 

Mr. & Mrs. Bernstein (aka Maestro)
2023 - 2h 9m

Not the type of film I’d normally go for, but it’s certainly not terrible, just not my thing. I did however get exactly what I was expecting – a well acted, well directed, beautifully shot and zero intellectually stimulating Bradley Cooper film. I’ll get the don't likes out of the way first.

It’s got very little meat on the bone concerning Bernstein and his music, even less than I was hoping for. There’s about 15 minutes of ‘music focused’ material and in that you get 6 minutes of pure passion, drama and triumph, with a superb single take scene of a Mahler performance. This is really good, but 6 minutes! It also sits there with little explanation, either before or after. The remaining 110 minutes or so are about the relationship with his wife, his boyfriends and family (in that order). This became very tedious and I started checking my watch around 90m. As a film for either general music lovers or lovers of classical music, Tár is far more satisfying IMO, which is ironic as Lydia Tár is a fictional character. Maestro is a romantic relationship drama about a musician, rather than an incisive musical drama about a musician and his relationships. If you like it that way around great, if you're expecting 2+ hours of what made Bernstein tick, his achievements, or the musical world he lived in, you’ll likely be underwhelmed and might be left feeling a bit cheated with a title like Maestro.

Likes: It’s a very well made film technically. The time line progression is well paced, the cinematography is good and I really liked the shot composition and camera blocking. So as a piece of cinema, it’s well crafted. The two central performances are very good – Cooper is completely convincing as Bernstein and I happily bought into that and never really thought I was watching Bradley Cooper, it might even get him a best actor nomination, we’ll see?

Bradley Cooper's make-up is extraordinarily good, which really helps you believe in the character. Another nomination coming there I fancy.

And finally, as mentioned, you don’t need to see this in a cinema – the only scene that warrants that, is the 6 minutes of him conducting Mahler, so hardly worth it. It’s actually like a series of montages taken from his musical career, woven into the trajectory of his traumatic personal life, which is very firmly front and centre.

Does it pass the ‘would I watch it again’ test? No.

Overall it’s fine, just don’t expect any insight into Bernstein as a musician. I can summarise all the above into one short sentence “It’s an okay Netflix film” and you can have some popcorn to hand as well

The original Girl With Dragon Tattoo was a superb film, no doubt.

I watched the David Fincher remake last night as I couldn't remember seeing it. It's a good, but not exceptional film. Rooney Mara is by far the best thing about it. The opening title sequence promises a super stylish film but I think that's what I was somewhat disappointed by. Given the locations and interiors it's not as memorable visually as it should have been and the cinematography could have given it a stronger look.

That's quite likely Paul because I haven't read the book and the story would have connected even more with me if I hadn't seen the original first.

But I'm not letting Fincher off because he can do much more in terms of the visuals than he did in this film.