Tár

[Drunk Monk]

Cate Blanchett’s tour de force & Oscar nom. She’s a lesbian conductor, world famous conducting in Berlin, aspiring to complete her recordings of Mahler with the 5th. This starts out very cerebral with complex discussions of classical music. Many of the shots are oners with Cate delivering complicated arguments on the meaning of music - of art - in dazzling displays of her command of the role. The cinematography is compelling but I can’t say why exactly - some compositional elements work with some extraordinary settings. And the music is wonderful. 

It’s a sophisticated film that no doubt tickles the imagination of the art cinema set. Plot points move somewhat abstractly but it comes together at points. Some parts are pretentiously artsy, like opening with the end credits. I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone with short attention spans or middling intellects. This would go over their heads. Definitely not for the uneducated. Nevertheless there’s some brilliant material here. 

Watching Tar’s world unravel give Cate the opportunity to demonstrate a full range of emotions. Tar is a flawed character, and it brings into question whether her fate was karmic for past offenses or just a sad fate. Honestly, I’d have to watch it again to judge but I doubt I’ll do that. Maybe if Stacy chooses to watch it, I’ll give it a rewatch.

Seen on Peacock - note that I have the free version with commercials but all the ads are shown first so the film is uninterrupted.

[Greg]

Hmm. I might sign up for free Peacock. I've been wanting to see this.

[Drunk Monk]

Peacock is cumbersome but ok for free. It has a lot of TV shows (99!) and old movies that every other platform has. Getting Tar was major for them - it’s the first notable film (and there’s another which I plan to watch later…)

The ending of Tar, which is a savage left turn from the rest of the film, really hung with me. I woke up thinking about it.