One critique (SPOILER)

[Paulchieffo 1,007]

I had one big problem with a star is born. I feel like they should have showed Ally finding out that Jack was dead. It would be devastating if in the scene where it showed the police lights in front of the house you heard Ally screaming inside the house. Or maybe if they showed her coming off stage to a group of somber looking people and it goes silent and you just see her fall to her knees sobbing. Thoughts?

[WildAmerican 13,672]

I agree. I feel like Bradley REALLY wasn't trying to overexplain everything, and there were some shortcomings bc of that...

[sethrb101 4,486]

That would be a very gut-wrenching scene. Maybe too Oscar-grabby and that's why they didn't do it?

I wonder if the other versions have a scene like it.

[Robo Ga 15,003]

I honestly think that would've been too devastating...  the scene with the dog outside of the garage door was so beyond gut-wrenching to me... I wouldn't have been able to handle it tbh. I'm truly shocked at how genuinely tragic the film was. Idk... I feel like I was abnormally disturbed about the ending, just generally. Absolutely loved the film but I was NOT ready for how incredibly sad it would be.

[TheQueenLG 2,469]

My mother would have had a heart attack. She was hysterically crying with the current ending...

Now for me, I would have loved for Gaga to flex her acting chops and give us that oscar bait that we love. 

[IvyInferno 145]

15 minutes ago, Robo Ga said:

I honestly think that would've been too devastating...  the scene with the dog outside of the garage door was so beyond gut-wrenching to me... I wouldn't have been able to handle it tbh. I'm truly shocked at how genuinely tragic the film was. Idk... I feel like I was abnormally disturbed about the ending, just generally. Absolutely loved the film but I was NOT ready for how incredibly sad it would be.

I feel the same

But I agree with Paulchieffo, I would have like to see a scene like that.

[Shipper 12,871]

This film is subtle.  And by not showing that scene,  I think it just goes along the whole theme of subtlety and hints in the movie.

It screams it without telling you and instead of receiving compensation by seeing Ally crying in the screen,  you as the viewer feel the emotion and cry yourself because you did not see the emotional response you wanted to feel. 

It's genius,  really. 

Any normal movie would show Ally returning home and devastated and crying but what they captured instead were the scenes of what happens after.

The long lonely quietness when you lose someone.  It's not the initial shock you dwell on but the long quietness after, the contemplation and pain. You numb yourself because you just have to. You remember but life still moves on. And we see Ally doing that as she performed the last song. 

This is the beauty of this movie!  It makes it oh so realistic and captures scenes that are often glossed over in other movies.  Movies usually sensationalize the initial moments of finding out a death but what they don't capture is the long silence of loneliness after and the fact that you move on but still hurt inside after. 

[FATCAT 58,760]

I think that it was perfect the way it was. 

Spoiler

Showing his body & the dog whimpering was enough traumatic. Gaga screaming/reacting would have just been extra imo.

 

[RadioIsOurs 13,828]

6 minutes ago, FATCAT said:

I think that it was perfect the way it was. 

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Showing his body & the dog whimpering was enough traumatic. Gaga screaming/reacting would have just been extra imo.

 

They showed his body? 

[lance13 984]

I actually disagree. I've seen it 3 times already and my friends and I were talking about this very thing. We all agreed that it was handled very well. Sometimes less is more and I think it had a stronger impact by not showing her walking in on that. I appreciate Bradley's restraint. 

[Cavadour 2,003]

8 minutes ago, RadioIsOurs said:

They showed his body?

Sort of. From a distance, through the small garage window, with lights on inside, you see someone's jeans dangling. And Charlie in distress in front of the garage...

[RadioIsOurs 13,828]

1 minute ago, Cavadour said:

Sort of. From a distance, through the small garage window, with lights on inside, you see someone's jeans dangling. And Charlie in distress in front of the garage...

I saw something vague dangling but I thought that's just the ceiling fan or something...didn't know he could hang that high up 

[Cavadour 2,003]

1 minute ago, RadioIsOurs said:

I saw something vague dangling but I thought that's just the ceiling fan or something...didn't know he could hang that high up 

It goes very fast but it's obvious : there's a the stepladder in a corner just before Jack closes the garage door...

[Zilla 13,346]

To me, you could see him dangling in the garage windows during the cops scene. Plus the 5 minutes of film before show what was going to happen anyway, so I personally don't think the discovery of his body would've helped as it feels reading that now that it would have been of excess. He said everything that was needed to be said without any extra "fat". 

Charlie's reaction was ripping my heart out and that's enough for me

[Leblanc 2,412]

I'm kinda glad they didn't do it, not to shade gaga but I could easily see that being one of the scenes she would have struggled at.

It would have been difficult for anyone let alone a first time feature film star and I wouldn't want her to risk the good job she did by bringing everyone out of the film to question her acting or whatever.

I didn't really like the smashing the pictures bit either, right after when she is sitting there with the mess was more powerful, the quieter scenes spoke the loudest imo.