A Star Is Born 2018

Non spoiler thoughts (summary): A deeply emotional rise and fall romance about love, fame, and self destruction. The chemistry feels natural, the music carries the emotion, and the performances make the relationship believable from the first meeting. Instead of a typical feel good romance, it becomes a painful character study about addiction, insecurity, and how success can slowly break a person. Romantic, intimate, and heavy. ⚠️ Spoilers ahead. From here on, plot details are discussed. Read on if you’ve seen the film. If not, save this post and come back after. ⚠️ I think I watched this film more than 10 times. I played La Vie en Rose 1000x times and even have it tattooed on my skin. I have been meaning to rewatch this as a quad feature watching all its predecessors, but I want to watch it now after having rewatched La La Land. I felt empty after that hurtful ending and could not seem to find a worthy film to watch that would equally hurt. Story time, I am that kind of person who always despised romance films, but I got really intrigued when I watched the music video of Lady Gaga’s Shallow playing in our cafeteria back in 2019. Plus it is her acting debut and Bradley Cooper’s directorial debut, and Cooper from The Hangover franchise singing? He is a heartthrob actor, what does he know about directing? So I gave it a shot and was not prepared for it. Less than 6 minutes in you will see a billboard about suicide awareness and that is a foreshadowing I caught during the second viewing knowing how the ending will happen. From the very start you'll feel that he is a ticking time bomb about to explode because of his alcohol addiction. His acting, his sunburnt and exhausted appearance, and especially his voice, that deep gravelly growl that sounds damaged from years of drinking and screaming on stage, add a strong sense of depth and realism. I am glad Jackson Maine is not homophobic despite being a rockstar. I genuinely like the banter with the drag queens. It feels natural and human. And Ally singing La Vie en Rose is etched in my mind and heart forever. I know it by heart! The song itself is already beautiful but when it was added by Lady Gaga’s magic touch it became a personal timeless classic. It is so fucking romantic. Jack’s eyes are glittering with happiness when he witnesses that, they literally light up. The dressing room was the first intimate encounter with Jack removing Ally’s fake eyebrow and a brief touch of hands. All close up shots are very intentional in this film. Jack’s eyes are full of wonder, he is really interested in Ally at that point and there is no turning back. The second close encounter was in the cop bar when Jack touched Ally’s nose. At that point I got really hooked. Kinilig ako malala dun. Ang ganda din ng pasok ng Whipping Post by The Allman Brothers Band at lyrics na “I feel like I’m dying.” Well there are two ways to read that, dying inside to hold her or foreshadowing that their love will be his demise. I think that moment really engraved in my subconscious that is why I chose a wife with a similar beautiful nose. Jack is really staying true to his heart when he said “it’s a good thing we met” with that playful tone. And it was real fun when Ally sucker punched a drunk cop harassing Jack. Third encounter was outside the supermarket and that is when their interaction deepened when Jack opened up about his past. And when Ally sang Shallow for the first time it was pure bliss. I am really glad there was no kissing or fucking in their first meeting. I knew it was a different story. And Jack taking another look at Ally and Ally doing that gesture tracing her nose is one of the most iconic moments for me. I like her father and best friend too, Ramon. Very supportive of her potential aside from Jack. That instrumental intro of Alibi playing while going to Jack’s concert is so exciting. And the lighting and grading looks like a real concert. When Bradley sang Shallow, oh man the guy can sing! And when Ally joined it was pure joy. At first she was really shy but she got the groove and became confident. All my doubts about their singing, acting, and film capabilities were blown by the wind. The morning after the concert when they made love was really intimate and earned. Music to My Eyes also has the perfect balance of romantic tenderness and playful pop energy, matching their genuine connection. Jack and his older brother’s conversation about their dad’s ranch and taking care of him was really hard to understand at first due to their growling voices, but once understood it adds another layer to Jack’s background. Always Remember Us This Way is also a nice song. I can really see the passion of Ally and the proudness in Jack’s eyes during that concert scene. He is really happy for Ally. Unang kita ko palang kay Rez Gavron alam ko nang bad news eh. Kupal eh. After the interaction of Ally and Rez, Jack’s condition worsened. He went downhill. Their intimate scenes in their house were pure celebration of joy and companionship. Jack said it himself, Ally gave him a place to call home, something he never felt before. Their wedding scene while I Don’t Know What Love Is is playing and Ally’s single tear drop is one for the books. Their chemistry is off the charts. Though a lot of scenes got cut and left in the editing room, it still worked. Though if there would be a director’s cut, why not? Then the spiral happens more often. He projects his insecurities onto her. Well sometimes we also do that, don’t we? We hate ourselves so much we put that anger toward other people. He feels irrelevant and overshadowed and constantly being kept on the sidelines. His hearing worsens and his alcohol and drug abuse get worse too. The tragedy slowly unfolds starting here. I forgot that he already confessed he attempted suicide when he was 13 years old to his counselor. So yeah, I got shocked again that he was really mentally sick even at a young age. Ally was really searching if her husband was still there inside Jack when they met at rehab. I can really feel everything they were thinking just through how their eyes acted. Ang galing nila! Even without words their eyes can tell a million words. There is also a tender moment between Jack and his brother Bobby. He admitted he idolized his brother and not their father. And somewhere I read that only Sam Elliott can act while reversing a car, and true enough every time I reverse I remember Sam Elliott haha. Jack was really improving, really facing his wrongdoings. But then this fucking Rez decided to be the world’s number 1 asshole. That little pep talk triggered something inside him again, his eyes were different from there on. When he realized that Ally was lying, that I think was the last straw. He did not want Ally lying to him just to make him feel better. Then they did again the “I just want to take another look at you” thing they did at the start. And fucking fuck, that was the last look. Fuck. Devastating. The framing, the silence, the color all suggest something wrong will happen at that moment. He removed his belt just like he said he did when he was 13. And that final image of his face, I deeply resonated with him. I was him every single day back in 2018 to 2019 in the mirror. Tired, defeated, ashamed of myself, and no purpose in life. That is why this became instantly one of my favorites back then. I am thankful I am not the same person anymore. You can see his torso hanging through the window but not the entire body. It is subtle but very devastating. A really fucking sad story. The last performance I’ll Never Love Again was really freaking heavy. All the scenes from the start lead to this final act. Perfectly written and cleanly executed direction. In just a few hours I got too attached with Jack and Ally’s rise and fall, as if I knew them for a long time, sympathizing with their success and struggles. Then that abrupt cut to a flashback of Jack singing this song for Ally sometime after he got out of rehab really punched me in the gut. The final scene where Ally looked at the camera is the real A Star Is Born moment. I read this tragedy as the natural cause of birth of a star. A star needs to die so a new one can be born. It is a continuous cycle of creation and destruction just like what Jack told Bobby, music is essentially 12 notes between any octave. The 12 notes repeat, it is the same story told over and over forever. All the artist can offer the world is how they see the 12 notes. A really masterpiece, if you want to fell hurt this will exceed your expectations.