A Star Is Born (2018)

Bradley Cooper can direct in this movie easily accessible to the masses! After multiple collaborations with actor's director David O. Russell, Cooper has learned the art of direction. The movie serves as an acting showcase for himself and Lady Gaga, who proved she can act. Part of the point of the movie is that Cooper's character, the fading Jackson Maine, hogs her spotlight out of jealousy, but at times the same goes for Cooper the actor (at the direction of Cooper the director?). Both performances are Oscar-level. Maine's voice is so deep (he emulates co-star Sam Elliot unironically, who is also very good), Cooper must have been in so much pain straining himself. When Lady Gaga gets to shine, the movie really shines. She is a star in every sense of the word. And her distinctive voice is powerful as ever. Dave Chappelle makes a curious appearance. I like Chappelle but his character sort of comes out of nowhere almost inexplicably. Is he just some friend that happens to live in Memphis? And I happen to quite like Anthony Ramos of Hamilton fame.

Lady Gaga can act, but can Bradley Cooper sing? He's actually pretty decent. He can act drunk and he can act drunkenly sing in tune AND he can act soberly sing out of tune. That's range. The original music sticks with you. Lady Gaga has been experimenting with different genres lately, and she makes it all work. Her new song Shallow is sure to win the Oscar. And of course Lady Gaga starts out singing in a drag bar. The cinematography is striking. I wonder how much Bradley Cooper had to do with the look of the movie. And the screenplay is strong. The first act of the script is actually perfect. It perfectly balances comedy, romance and drama. The initial courtship between Ally and Jackson is convincing and engaging. And the musical makes powerful use of silence.

Lastly, I want to ask what Cooper is trying to say? This is obviously a remake done no less than 3 times before. In 2018, why do we need more of this? What is the commentary on our times? Easy message number 1 is the music producer/manager is unequivocally bad. The music industry does things to you making it difficult to retain your unique authenticity. But more interestingly what about gender? Does she need him, or he-her? What is he saying about masculinity? About successful women? What are we to make of Ally's final sacrifice, the lie she tells for Jackson's sake? And what about Jackson's ultimate sacrifice, an act of love? I don't have all the answers, but he raises some interesting questions for our contemporary society.

Risk (2016)

Risk is Laura Poitras's latest documentary about Wikileaks founder Julian Assange. She has been filming Assange since 2011, before she started work on Citizenfour as well as after. And this is where I got a little confused. From watching Citizenfour, I understood that Edward Snowden reached out to her because of her previous work on the Iraq War. But I'm not so sure about that anymore. Did Snowden know about her Assange project and is that why he contacted her? Did Assange actually connect her with Snowden? What was so incredible about Citizenfour was that she was in that Hong Kong hotel room in the moment. Was it luck? Not exactly, but it was certainly fortuitous. Here, she has an incredible amount of access to Assange in the Ecuadorian embassy, but it is not quite as eventful and thrilling as Citizenfour. Perhaps it is unfair to compare though. This film has lots of merits. It really is an excellent and insightful documentary. Less confined, Poitras's camerawork is more developed. She composes her shots well and builds tension and anger. She asks her audience to question the government. She has proven herself to be one of this generation's most important filmmakers, indispensable. And after seeing her retrospective exhibit at the Whitney Museum earlier this year, I could fully appreciate her sacrifice and efforts.

There is a scene in the film that is an interview between Lady Gaga and Julian Assange. It is an awkward celebrity cameo that I certainly didn't see coming. But it is a bit of much needed comic relief to release some of the tension. And Lady Gaga is fabulous as always.  

The Hunting Ground (2015)

The Hunting Ground is the documentary that this country needs. Amy Ziering and Kirby Dick followed up The Invisible War with this look at rape in another one of America's revered institutions: universities.  It is a brutal look at rape on campus.  It is an epidemic that is widespread.  The same stories recur across the country and the message that is repeated at university after university is that they don't care. Universities are businesses and allegations of rape are bad public relations.  Gloria Steinem spoke at Johns Hopkins last year at the Foreign Affairs Symposium and she said something that was echoed by this film: sexual assault happens at all universities. The ones that report zero incidences are not safer, rather they are worse for covering it up.  The film features candid talking head interviews with survivors of sexual assault.  These are intertwined with statistics and infographics.  Some very innovative students filed Title IX complaints, and taught other students how to do the same.  It is not the original intention of Title IX, but this interpretation is a brilliant application of the law: survivors of sexual assault are deprived of equal and free access to education because the failure to adequately respond to sexual harassment creates a hostile learning environment.  Lady Gaga and Diane Warren teamed up for the song "Til It Happens to You" which bravely asks the viewer to step into the shoes of survivors and try to understand the immense suffering they go through.  This is an important documentary and there have rightfully been screenings at universities across the country.