Unlike the wave of milquetoast biopics released over the years on Elvis, Ray Charles, Johnny Cash and others, Maestro is a welcome passion project by an actor/director willing to experiment with form and structure. Showing composer Leonard Bernstein as a magnetic but self-absorbed asshole with a sheepish grin and extroverted bisexuality, Maestro’s complex approach brings out a genius’s relatability and messy everydayness in what could otherwise have been stuffy subject matter.
In addition, it leaves us hungry for more character studies of musicians paired with actors who give their all. In Maestro, Cooper not only gives us his best-yet performance but reaches another level as an actor, writer and director. Inspired, here we suggest five other musicians who deserve to have their stories told.
