Tár

 Tár [2022]

Starring: Cate Blanchett, Nina Hoss, Noémie Merlant

Direction by Todd Field 

Language: English

Given my love for Michelle Yeoh, I just HAD to see who her competition was. I think it's pretty safe to say that Blanchett is a formidable opponent after seeing this movie, and I think that anybody who sees it will agree. Tár, which is set in the world of symphonies and grand orchestras, was so wonderfully different to any other movie I have seen: I feel as if the world of music is massively underrepresented in film. 

Let's start with the casting. I would actually say that the casting is amongst the best of the all of the frontrunner movies at the Oscars. The nature of this movie meant that all of the characters were incredibly complex, and everybody who acted in this picture was able to live up to such extra ordinary standards.

Hoss, for example. was perfectly able to balance the effects of her character's illness, her character's emotional vulnerability, and finally her character's grit, as she finally manages to stand up for herself and her ideals at the end of the movie.

This was Blanchett's Tour-de-force! This character was an extension of herself, and it really, really showed. The intensity of her character was unparalleled: the dramatic movements of her actions as a conductor, and her almost psychopathic behaviour as all the pieces of her life start to unravel. There is such a natural yet profound contrast between the side of Blanchett that is a high-strung composer in the pretentious music scene of the western world, and the side of her which is a mother, a parent that relies on her child to get her through the struggles of her life.

The movie was a little boring to put it bluntly, though. This was a movie that utilised long scenes shot at one particular angle. This, coupled with the deeply intellectual, sometimes confusing speech accompanying these scenes, meant that it was quite easy to get very distracted, and lose interest completely (which, I will admit, did happen to me several times throughout watching this). 

The movie was written in a very clever way: the prevailing themes of sexual misconduct and mental deterioration were concealed in such a way that they were not obvious at first sight, and so unless you are really involved in the viewing of the movie, the movie would go completely over your head. 

The movie, as a whole, was incredibly poignant. What I will say, though, is that the ending definitely could have been fleshed out. I feel that if the final scenes in south east Asia were perhaps elongated, Tár's fall from grace would be much easier to understand and visualise. 

8/10