Formula: The Red Violin / The Assistant
I’ve been writing Reactions to movies for over a decade now. It’s getting into the thousands of times I’ve sat with a movie at tried to figure out what I thought about a movie that I’m willing to have other people see. In that time, I haven’t gotten much better at coming around on movies faster. I’m still quite bad about first reacting to the movie I hoped something would be rather than the movie it is. Something I do think I’m better at though is knowing when a movie will hit me differently later. I’m getting strong “will appreciate it more later” vibes from Todd Field’s new film, Tar.
Tar tells the tale of the fictional composer Lydia Tar (Cate Blanchett). Tar is a massively successful composer. EGOT winner. Head of the Berlin Orchestra. All around musical genius. Over the course of 158 minutes, the film follows Tar as her abuses of power finally catch up to her. It’s a slow burn movie. Early on, it just feels like a film about fleshing out this genius. It carefully lays out the assorted seams that will later unravel. In short, she gets #MeToo’d. It never lays it on too thick. It never forces a judgment upon her. I get why so many people have left the movie thinking Lydia Tar was a real person, because the film creates such a full character and doesn’t get bogged down explaining details.
It was strange watching this movie. I loved the experience of watching it. Cate Blanchett is phenomenal as Lydia Tar. I was most impressed with how at ease she was with the character. It’s such a natural performance, like she was revisiting a character she’s played several times over decades. I love the direction of the film as well. Todd Fields choosing to do very long scenes, often with unbroken shots. He’s made a film where I just want to listen to Tar talk. I know nothing about classical music yet the film made it sound like the most interesting topic in the world. There’s passion in the dialogue that can’t be faked.
Where the film lost me some is that when it ended, I wasn’t really sure what the point was. There’s a common complaint about the Oscars that Best Actor nominees tend to come from Best Picture nominees and Best Actress nominees don’t. In fact, many Best Actress nominees are the only nominations or only major nominations for their movies. In the discussion of those films then, the Best Actor films get thought of as complete films while Best Actress films are character studies. I don’t want to fall into that trap. I do think Tar is a film with a lot of merits, however it is a character study. The entirety of this movie is Blanchett as Tar. While I enjoyed supporting performances from the likes of Noemie Merlant, Nina Hoss, and Sophie Kauer, Blanchett is the one I’m focusing on. Where this becomes a shortcoming to me is that I don’t find Lydia Tar’s story arc particularly interesting. I’ve seen stories about people who abuse power before. It’s a little interesting in that it’s a woman getting #MeToo’d. Even that feels calculated though. Like, as an audience, we’re supposed to be more conflicted because she’s a woman and not a man grooming and preying on young women. When the movie ended, I was stumped, because the beats of the story and the general lesson of the movie were so uncomplicated. It made me realize that I liked the movie mainly because Blanchett was so engaging.
That’s where I’m expecting this will age differently with me. Perhaps on a rewatch, I’ll simply enjoy this in the way I enjoy a comedy movie with a nothing plot that makes me laugh a lot. For now, I don’t see why this movie needed to be so long other than the fact that it’s so much fun to watch Blanchett on screen as this character. I do want to be very clear about something though. I look at Tar as much closer to There Will Be Blood (a beautiful movie with a dazzling lead performance that I ultimately find hollow despite its watchability) than Judy (a movie that doesn’t exist beyond Renee Zellweger’s performance).
Verdict: Strongly Recommend
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