Lady Gaga knocks it out of the park

Rating: 10/10 (6 October 2018)

A few years ago on the radio in the UK, the DJ (Paul O'Grady) announced he was about to play a new duet released by Tony Bennett with Lady Gaga. He was somewhat dismissive of it before he played it, basically saying that we wasn't expecting it to be very good. But to be fair after the song had finished, he publicly ate his words and said "How wrong I was - that was fantastic!".
That's pretty much how I think a lot of people might react to this film. Anyone who's followed Lady Gaga's career will know she's massively talented and fearless. If you haven't seen it, I would recommend viewing the youtube clip of her singing "Gimme Shelter" live onstage with the Rolling Stones a few years ago, quite amazing. So I fully expected her to belt out the show-stopping musical numbers in this film and knock it out of the park (which she does). The surprise is the depth and subtlety that she brings to her acting performance. Her transformation from waitress and part time club performer to Grammy winning superstar is eminently believable. The scenes I enjoyed most were the earlier ones where Jackson Maine (Cooper) gets her to believe in herself and her talent. The scene where he gets her onstage to duet with him for the first time was wonderful. Their early relationship is beautiful to watch and even the sex scene (I think there's only one?) is cut commendably short. My only criticism is the scene where Gaga is in the bath and as Cooper storms out of the bathroom she is seen briefly standing up naked - was that really necessary?
The music and singing from both leads throughout is outstanding. The rest of the supporting cast put in great performances too. There is nothing to fault in this film, so 10/10.