BEFORE: William Hill carries over from "Framing John Delorean", where he played an unnamed General Motors executive, and tonight he plays a janitor. Well, it's good to be working, right?
OK, so here's what happened, I thought maybe I could get here in February, because this is a love story of sorts, right? Or at least a relationship-driven piece, and those belong in February, generally speaking. But I couldn't work this one in to my romance chain, so that left it out in the cold - but I was planning on watching "She Said", also with Carey Mulligan, in January for the same reasons, and that became part of the chain. So I figured I could link from "Maestro" to that, only I needed an intro, I needed to GET here. I looked a bit further down on the cast list for "Maestro" and found William Hill, so there you go, I had a way to get here and a way to get back to the scheduled chain. So I just have to take that opportunity, because this film could get some Oscar nominations next week.
I worked at a screening of this film, actually two screenings, but only one had Bradley Cooper talking about the film after, taking some questions from the audience. I was close to him, I had to move chairs on stage so he and the interviewer (Alejandro Innaritu) could sit down, but Mr. Cooper was surrounded by bodyguards, so I had no real interaction with him. Just happy to see the man and hear some of his stories about directing and starring in this movie. I can put him on my list of famous people I've encountered, and that list keeps growing a bit every month.
THE PLOT: This love story chronicles the lifelong relationship of conductor-composer Leonard Bernstein and actress Felicia Montealegre Cohn Bernstein.
AFTER: OK, mission accomplished - I got to watch "Tár" and "Maestro" in the same week, and the two films are (sort of) cut from the same cloth. One's based on a real person, of course, and the other isn't (umm, I think), but it's essentially the same story, just gender-flipped and one's set in the present and the other one isn't. I assume this is the start of a giant trend for movies set in the high-pressure world of professional conducting and composing, we've had TWO of these in two years, and surely more will follow, especially if "Maestro" gets a few noms next week. So, expect at least five films about famous conductors next year.
I've got some background experience here, because my mother was an elementary school music teacher, but she had a Master's degree in music theory (I think) and was always trying to expose me to Broadway musicals, especially Rodgers & Hammerstein, and classical music was always playing in her kitchen. So I got a lot of it through osmosis, and I think Bernstein was one of her favorites, especially with regards to "West Side Story". Whatever she knew about his personal life, she was willing to overlook, despite being a hardcore Catholic, probably because his body of work was so strong. He also did a lot to make classical music acceptable for the masses, with a series of televised concerts that mansplained what was going on in the minds of the composers, and what we're supposed to FEEL when we hear this symphony or that one.
The time is probably right to re-visit Lenny's lifestyle, though, to try to determine if he was unique or "normal", whatever that means, or a man ahead of his time. There were different attitudes back in the 1950's, which means that anyone living as a gay or bisexual person had to keep part of their life hidden, but also we know now that doesn't mean things didn't happen, they were just kept on the down low, for the most part. Apparently Bernstein wasn't as discreet as he thought he was, because his orientation was something of an open secret, and you can say the same about almost all of the main creatives on "West Side Story", Jerome Robbins and Stephen Sondheim, Robert Wise was probably the odd (straight) man out. But maybe it's more complicated than that, I don't know.
I wish "Maestro" could have delved a little deeper into the production of "West Side Story", but as Bradley Cooper pointed out, the rights to any of that movie's music are co-owned by the four families of the main creatives, so negotiations to use songs are complex, to say the least. So this film has to kind of skip over those years, and jump from "On the Town" to a point where Bernstein refers to it in the past tense, and he's upset that he hasn't composed more over the last decade. The whole format of this film changes several times, which is very sneaky, but the 1950's segments are in black and white, with a particular aspect ratio that was used at the time, then when the story jumps to the early 1970's, scenes are in color and wide-screen, and finally during the closing credits we're in super wide-screen, because it's the late 1980's and Felicia has passed away, and despite missing her greatly he's also free to live out and proud.
In one way, Bernstein was no different from, say, Motley Crue or the Rolling Stones, so much time spent on the road meant that he didn't stay faithful to his wife, and she didn't expect him to, she regarded him as homosexual and understood what made him happy, and he could only compose and function at his best when he was happy. Umm, sure, if that's how you need to justify things, but then why have a wife at all? Why have kids? Sure, it was a different time and society imposed certain expectations regarding public images and marriage and all that, but if marriage isn't your thing, and you need to live your own life, well maybe you shouldn't try to have it both ways. It's a complicated issue, but I think there's a bit of a double-standard applied here, and as a whole we're more forgiving now when someone identifies as gay or bisexual, I'm just not sure that we should be.
What I mean to say is that if a man cheats on his wife with another woman, then, generally speaking, he's a dirty liar and a scumbag, but if he cheats on his wife with a man, then he's exploring his sexuality and he's getting in touch with his inner nature and, again generally speaking, that's a wonderful thing that should be celebrated. Cheating is cheating, even if you have an understanding with your life partner, and trying to keep that part of your life secret only leads to lies on top of lies, some of which you have to tell your own children, and I just don't see how that's ideal. Maybe I'm biased because of my own history or I just don't understand the situation fully. And if Bernstein favored younger men who were his students, well that's (potentially) using his position of power and influence to gain sexual favors, and if that sort of thing happened today then he would have found himself cancelled, this is what happened to James Levine, like I mentioned the other day.
By all accounts, Bernstein loved his wife, Felicia, but then any definition of how that love is expressed is unique for any relationship, sure. And the interview in which Bernstein explains the difference between being a composer and a conductor falls back on the suggestion that he was leading a double life. He calls himself "schizophrenic", which of course isn't the proper term, but as a conductor there was part of him that was an extrovert, a performer, a people person, and as a composer he was more introverted, spending time by himself while writing music. We all have to segment our lives into different parts, perhaps, some people have to go work in an office and interact with co-workers but then there are hobbies or different solo activities that take place on the weekends. Maybe we all lead double lives and his was just more obvious, IDK.
The back-story of the production is that at different times both Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg were planning to direct this movie, but after watching a cut of "A Star Is Born", Spielberg told Bradley Cooper that he should direct "Maestro" himself. When Spielberg tells you to direct a movie, you should probably direct that movie - but remember, Spielberg also cheated to get his first movies made, he just walked into Universal Studios' building, found an empty office and set up shop. Anyway, Spielberg re-made "West Side Story" so maybe he figured that was enough Bernstein for one director, and he wanted to do something else. I also worked at a screening of "West Side Story" that was just for NYC cast and crew and Spielberg's New York friends, and I can confirm that Spielberg has a lot of New York friends.
Another important life lesson here is that Bernstein made his debut with the NY Philharmonic in November 1943, filling in at the last minute for Bruno Walter, who was sick. And then Bernstein's career really took off, so I guess always be ready to fill in for someone else at your job, that's how you get ahead in life. The other lessons here regarding relationships, marriage, kids, and keeping certain aspects of your life in check, well, all that sort of falls under "It's complicated...", doesn't it? The film kind of glosses over the fact that Bernstein essentially left his wife in 1976 to live with a man in northern California, but when Felicia got sick he moved back to Connecticut to care for her until she passed. Again, I don't really know what it all means in the end, whether you regard this as a "love story" or not is kind of open to interpretation.
I wish I'd known that archive footage of the real Leonard Bernstein appears over the closing credits - I could have come here directly from "Tár" and not had to watch two unenjoyable Alec Baldwin movies. And then January would have been less crowded, I wouldn't have to drop two more movies now. Oh, well, that's the game and the game is constantly changing. But still, please update your movie's IMDB listing to include archival footage, and yes, even footage seen during the credits counts as part of the film.
OK, now I'm backing Bradley Cooper for a Best Actor Oscar - the current predictions say he could be up against Colman Domingo ("Rustin"), Paul Giamatti ("The Holdovers"), Cillian Murphy ("Oppenheimer") and Jeffrey Wright ("American Fiction"), with Leonardo DiCaprio ("Killers of the Flower Moon") on the bubble. I haven't seen any of those other performances, so my choice is kind of clear. Carey Mulligan could also get a nomination for Best Actress, and who knows, maybe "Maestro" can get nominated for Best Director and Best Picture, too. We'll find out in a couple days.
Also starring Carey Mulligan (last seen in "Never Let Me Go"), Bradley Cooper (last heard in "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3"), Matt Bomer (last seen in "The Normal Heart"), Maya Hawke (last seen in "Asteroid City"), Sarah Silverman (last seen in "Space Jam: A New Legacy"), Michael Urie, Brian Klugman (last seen in "The Words"), Gideon Glick (last seen in "White Noise"), Sam Nivola (ditto), Miriam Shor (last seen in "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3"), Alexa Swinton, Josh Hamilton (last seen in "Dark Skies"), Zachary Booth (last seen in "The Beaver"), Vincenzo Amato (last seen in "Red Notice"), Greg Hildreth, Nick Blaemire, Mallory Portnoy, Kate Eastman, Tim Rogan, Sara Sanderson (last seen in "All About Steve"), Yasen Peyankov (last seen in "Captive State"), Julia Aku, Lea Cooper, Soledad Campos, Scott Ellis, James Cusati-Moyer (last seen in "Black Adam"), Scott Drummond (last seen in "Sisters"), Miller Bugliari, Gabe Fazio (last seen in "A Star Is Born" (2018)), Jordan Dobson, June Gable (last seen in "The Week Of"), Valéry Lessard, Renée Stork, Colin Anderson, Kevin Thompson (last seen in "Trainwreck") with archive footage of Leonard Bernstein (last seen in "Tár").
RATING: 7 out of 10 trips up to Tanglewood
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