Maestro - 7 nominations

 

• Best Achievement in Makeup and Hairstyling

• Kazu Hiro
• Kay Georgiou 
• Lori McCoy-Bell

• Best Sound

• Steven Morrow 
• Richard King 
• Jason Ruder 
• Tom Ozanich 
• Dean A. Zupancic

• Best Motion Picture of the Year

• Bradley Cooper 
• Steven Spielberg 
• Fred Berner 
• Amy Durning 
• Kristie Macosko Krieger

• Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role

• Carey Mulligan

• Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role

• Bradley Cooper

"Hi, I'm Lenny" begins the trailer of Maestro, following the work and life of renowned composer and conductor, Leonard Bernstein, and his family life with actress Felicia Montealegre. We follow their young life together, meeting, getting married, building a family, all while Bernstein's career is skyrocketing. It is a personal portrait that gives us the intimate details of Bernstein's life, his extramarital relationships that were open and accepted by his wife, and his unrelenting passion for music and conducting.

The direction of this film is utterly magnificent. At the conclusion of the movie, my first thought was "there's Cooper's first Oscar." It is Bradley Cooper's magnum opus, and the acting is the absolute least of his achievements in Maestro.  There was some criticism of the makeup used on Cooper's nose, but if you look at the picture of him versus Bernstein, we see that the nose was actually under-constructed, rather than overdone. (Plus the ears!)

Ironically, Bernstein never won an Oscar and was only nominated once (for On the Waterfront), despite his work on West Side Story. The serendipity of that work and Steven Spielberg's involvement with this movie (having revived West Side Story as a film) is a lovely continuation of Spielberg's obsession with that movie.

Now, I'm no aficionado of orchestra conducting, so I have no idea if Cooper pulls it off or not, with the second year in a row featuring films that spotlight conductors (last year, Cate Blanchet's performance in Tar was the first), but I can tell you that it looked terribly authentic, and whether or not it was, Bradley Cooper certainly sold it well.  He put the passion for the whole life story into those 6 minutes of conducting, and you can feel it ooze from his every pore, his every fiber. He worked for 6 years on that skill, and again, I have no idea if he did it right. But nonetheless, he did it convincingly, and that was more than enough for me.

If you liked Maestro, why not try this book:

Killers of the Flower Moon - 10 nominations

• Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original Score)

• Robbie Robertson

• Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original Song)

• Scott George

For "Wahzhazhe (A Song for My People)"

\

• Best Motion Picture of the Year

• Dan Friedkin
• Bradley Thomas
• Martin Scorsese
• Daniel Lupi

• Best Achievement in Directing

• Martin Scorsese

• Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role

• Lily Gladstone

• Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role

• Robert De Niro

• Best Achievement in Cinematography

• Rodrigo Prieto

• Best Achievement in Film Editing

• Thelma Schoonmaker

• Best Achievement in Production Design

• Jack Fisk (production designer)
• Adam Willis (set decorator)

• Best Achievement in Costume Design

• Jacqueline West

This is a 3 1/2 hour movie but I think I can summarize the essential storyline in a couple of lines. The Osage tribe in Oklahoma discovers oil and is able to retain mineral rights that makes many of the tribe members prosperous. Local white people conspire to steal these rights by marrying and having families with members of the tribe, getting their spouses to bequeath their land and rights to them, and then murdering them in a variety of sinister ways.  The deaths are rarely investigated, no matter how fishy the circumstances. It's not until Mollie Burkhart makes her way to Washington DC and implores the President of the United States to help that the FBI comes to town to start unraveling the conspiracy.  The threat comes closer and closer to Mollie herself, only for her to discover that there is literally no-one she, and the members of the Native community, can trust.

I started watching the film determined to dislike it.  I'm tired of Martin Scorcese's 3+ hour epics with stories that could be told in much shorter time (or in a limited series on Netflix). I was mindful that Scorcese chose this important story - especially in a world where states are passing laws about curricula that identifies anything that makes white people feel bad - and he did so working with members of the Osage community so they could tell and own their own history. While this story is certainly never going to be told in a Florida classroom, it's an important one and the film gives this history its due.  It is indeed an Oscars caliber film (and if an editor is getting a nomination for NOT cutting the movie down further, that is saying something). 

But the thing about this film that stands out by far and away is the performance by Lily Gladstone. This is a two woman race with Emma Stone in Poor Things and I genuinely can't tell you who will win. I loved her in Reservation Dogs, and there is no movie without Gladstone. The depth of emotion, sickness, playfulness, love, hurt, grit - it's so much more than the part that was written. She's a powerhouse holding her own with the likes of Robert De Niro and Leonardo DiCaprio. She broke me.

I can't say that this is a must see film. I can't say that it's one that will be remembered in 10 years. But I will say that if you choose to watch it (even if you have to do it in two sittings), you will be entertained, and I hope you will be outraged, as well.  It's worth your time.

You can hear the nominated song, here.