TÁR
After 15 years away from the director’s chair, Todd Field (LITTLE CHILDREN, IN THE BEDROOM) makes his return this weekend with psychological drama TÁR (trailer here): an incisive, damning portrait of formidable music composer Lydia Tár (an incandescent Cate Blanchett) on the cusp of a public reckoning when accusations of past impropriety begin to surface. During the film’s press conference at New York Film Festival last week, Blanchett described the film as one that “raises more questions than [it] answers.” In less assured hands that would likely make for a frustrating film, but Field poses those questions—of complicity, “cancel culture” and abuses of power at large—in a manner that's more thoughtful and considered, but never didactic or judgmental.
He lays the groundwork to do this with his uncannily specific writing and blisteringly real filmmaking. The film opens on a New Yorker panel moderated by staff writer Adam Gopnik (playing himself), introducing us to the fictional presence of Lydia Tár with a level of verisimilitude that’s immediately striking; she’s not only a luminary of classical music with decades of training and accolades under her belt but a real cultural presence too—she’s an EGOT winner after all! But of course, the only place left to go from the top is down, and when a former student who Lydia mentored and suddenly shunned under questionable circumstances commits suicide, the cultural spheres that Lydia inhabits and the internet at large begin to catch wind of her misconduct. Field seamlessly integrates our cultural reliance on technology with dreamlike sequences of paranoia to depict her downfall as the apparatuses that support her dodgy decisions begin to crumble underneath her. All of this, of course, only reaches its full potential with Cate Blanchett at the center, who is always magnificent but gives a performance that is so confident and fully realized, it’s no wonder she picked up the Volpi Cup for Best Actress at this year’s Venice Film Festival. If you’re looking for a ruminative film that will capture your attention without veering into sensationalism, which just happens to feature one of the best performances of the year, TÁR is out in select theaters in NY/LA this weekend before expanding on October 14.
—Neal Mulani, Development Assistant
