Maestro is a masterpiece. Amongst the Golden Globe male nominees, Bradley is far above any of the others, even Cillian Murphy in Oppenheimer. He had to look like a conductor, a piano player, acquire his mannerisms, voice and the ending credit sequence with the real LB, show just how much they transformed BC to look like Leonard.
Carey Mulligan is an acting tornado. Her monologue when she lectures Leonard (aka Bradley) that he may wind up a lonely queen was possibly the most electric scene I’ve seen this year. I’d be very happy if she receives the GG, but would be equally happy with Sandra Huller’s performance in anatomy of a Fall…
But I digress, back to Maestro:
My only quibble with the film was in the first quarter where I felt a little lost with the speed and muddled accents.
Th orchestral music in the film is of course brilliant and moving. Additionally, the camera angles, swoops, and use of both black and white and color film adds verity to the entire project. Bravo Bradley!
Now let’s get to the dark side, and by that I mean May December and possibly the new genre (if you’ve waded through The Curse-Nathan Fielder’s newest puzzle of a series) which may not have a name yet, one might call it “messypiece”, since in these two aforementioned swamps, actors seem to delight in melodrama with overdone background music.
There are two good things about Todd Haynes newest May December: 1, the actual story is multilayered and speaks volumes to my thesis that 80% of women are unstable manipulative psychos and 80% of men are naive and insecure. Put those combos in a blender and what you have a a triple thickened dysfunctional shake.
2, Charles Melton and Cory Michael Smith are the two actors who earned my trust. The former has the meatier leading role and felt both believable and sad. The insert sarcastic finger quotes around “electrifying scenes” that a few hack critics have claimed between Julianne Moore and Natalie Portman’s shallow caricatures are simply bunk.
