You don’t need to know much about legendary conductor-composer Leonard Bernstein to enjoy this decently made ‘love story’ biopic with standout performances by Bradley Cooper and Carey Mulligan.

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You couldn’t imagine how excited my Snoopy (who joined me to watch Maestro) was when Bradley Cooper asked, “Who abandoned Snoopy in the vestibule?” and proceeded to hold the said Snoopy in his hand. 

Outside, a Snoopy parade is happening in the streets.  It’s my first time seeing Snoopy gloriously represented outside of a ‘Peanuts’ movie—to think that it would come in a biopic about Leonard Bernstein! 

Cooper plays the titular maestro, Lenny (as his close friends call him), who would become a famous American conductor-composer, decades before the likes of John Williams (just as legendary) made his mark in the field. 

Joining him is Carey Mulligan in what could be a career-best performance as Felicia Montealegre, his actress wife who would support his musical exploits but not without suffering a personal toll. 

“Fix your hair. You’re getting sloppy.”

While Maestro has great moments, particularly Matthew Libatique’s dynamic cinematography that captures both the ‘exteriority’ and ‘interiority’ of Bernstein’s life, the sum appears to be slightly weaker than its parts as there is a nagging feeling that Cooper’s film is missing something that would transform it into an extraordinary piece of cinema like, say, Tar (2022), which also centers on an orchestra conductor, albeit a fictional one. 

Best appreciated as a love story much like Cooper’s earlier A Star Is Born (2018), Maestro is a tad more accomplished, both technically and artistically. 

The film’s ‘money shot’ comes in a stunning 6-minute long take of Bernstein conducting Mahler’s haunting Symphony No. 2 in C Minor: Resurrection at the Ely Cathedral in the UK. 

The fact that Cooper trained for six years to be a conductor for that scene only speaks volumes of his authentic commitment to his craft as a director and actor—or maybe he just wants that damn Oscar, which is likely to elude him again with Cillian Murphy (Oppenheimer) and Paul Giamatti (The Holdovers) in the house.

Grade: B+

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