Well-made directial debut from Bradley Cooper

Rating: 7/10 (6 October 2018)

Firstly, the score is something that I'll need to get out of the way before I can talk about the rest of the movie. As someone who came into the movie without knowing much about the movie other than the actors and basic synopsis, the music is something of a artistic piece on its own. The amount of original music provided in this movie is astounding and remarkable. The music each sounded different and had its own identity. The only downside to the audience is that without listening to the music before watching the movie you might not dive straight into the emotional pieces of each music; what I'm trying to say is that music on it's own has to be digested, most movies do this by replaying the same then music over and over again until the final culmination, so that the audience will learn the songs acute notes and melodies. This movie I found didn't do this, it played each music like it's own scene and that is something I can respect although it might not have the same emotional weight to people who hear it for the first time. I'm not saying the music is bad, I'm just saying that it's good but I could not fully experience each piece fully.
Second, the acting: I think Bradley Cooper played his role phenomenally well, and the same goes for Lady Gaga considering this is her first full transition to acting. Everybody acted well, the characters were believable, there weren't any breaks due to poor character decisions. So not much to add here.
I think the directing is excellent, Bradley Cooper has a vision for each scene and directs some of them extraordinarily well, although there were some atypical scenes, due to the large time scope of the movie. The narrative is tightly woven and has a clear beginning to end.
So the movie is quite polished and has a few scenes that really stood out to me, so what sets it apart from perfection? Well, my biggest gripe other than my first point about the music is that, it's quite un-entertaining, there wasn't a real plot line that hooks, the ending had already been hinted at in the title, the scenes cut from song to song to the romance. I didn't really feel much for the movie although I could respect the material itself. Another point is that it didn't really end much of its sub plot points which I expect is because they wanted to raise these questions like, is there a different in meaningful expression between pop and country/rock, issue with fame or a bad childhood. None of these were seen to be settled in the film. Which is both a good and bad thing.
To conclude, it's a good movie, just not quite unique in exploring new ideas, having its own style, and very fun to watch, thus not perfect. But don't let me stop you from watching, this is just my opinion.