Bradley Cooper's directorial debut is a shining star.

Rating: 9/10 (11 October 2018)

A Star is Born stars Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper, who also directed it. This is the third remake of the original 1930s movie of the same name. It's about an alcoholic country singer who meets a young singer at a bar and eventually helps her find fame. As they fall in love, he has to deal with his alcoholism and his inner conflicts.
I was interested in this movie because of the TIFF buzz, but I was also very skeptical since Lady Gaga was one of the stars and I was especially afraid her performance would be awful. In the end, I was surprised by how well-done this movie is. For his directorial debut, Cooper did a fantastic job. The characters are very believable and I had myself sympathizing with Cooper's character. His character is basically an alcoholic who needs to learn to deal with the responsibilities of being one, and he has layers that gives us a reason to sympathize with him. Lady Gaga's character is a rising star who is skeptical of him, yet finds joy being around him.
I find the strongest aspect of the movie to be the acting and the chemistry.
Lady Gaga really floored me with her acting on display. I thought she would be awful in this since this is her first movie, but she did a fantastic job with both her acting and singing. She is more than just convincing as an actress here, she feels like she's living and breathing her role. Bradley Cooper is also incredible as his character and it's probably my favorite performance of his. He especially gets emotional during one scene in the third act and by that point, I really immersed myself in his character for that reason. Cooper and Gaga's chemistry was also fantastic. I can't think of anything wrong with it, I really felt their connection.
I do have a small issue with the pacing of the story in how it feels like it's too fast paced at times where things come and go too quickly sometimes. Either way, I found this movie really good and I really hope to see more directorial films from Bradley Cooper. To go from an actor to a director is a tough transition and I think he made a smashing debut.
9/10