The expert in question in “The Maestro” is famed composer Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco (Xander Berkeley), who over the course of his career contributed to more than 200 movies, many as a “ghost composer.” Yet the real focus of Adam Cushman’s film is actually Jerry Herst (Leo Marks), an aspiring musician who in 1945 Los Angeles became one of Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s students. By consigning its most interesting character to a supporting role, this amiable slice of fictionalized history loses a good deal of its heft. Nonetheless, solid direction and a charming Berkeley turn help it stave off insubstantiality, and should make it an appealing option for those interested in a pleasant alternative to big-studio fare.
Wearing dark-rimmed glasses, boasting a gray beard and hair that sticks out in slight tufts from the side of his balding head, and puffing away from his cigarette holder, the Italian-born Castelnuovo-Tedesco is introduced telling an older pupil,...
Wearing dark-rimmed glasses, boasting a gray beard and hair that sticks out in slight tufts from the side of his balding head, and puffing away from his cigarette holder, the Italian-born Castelnuovo-Tedesco is introduced telling an older pupil,...
- 2/14/2019
- by Nick Schager
- Variety Film + TV
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