Tar

On Friday, March 10, 2023  8 TIC members braved the rainy and cold weather to meet at Cinecitta for the start of the weekend. The movie chosen – Tár – was one all were curious to see. In the lead up to the Oscars, actress Cate Blanchett was a serious contender to take home one of the coveted golden statues for her role as Lydia Tár, the brilliant but manipulative and predatory classical conductor. So, after brief greetings among the group, we went into the film – curious and with high expectations. Unfortunately, we had all changed our opinions by the time we came out more than 2 ½ hours later. The plot of the film was confusing and hard to follow…”What is going on here?” The main point of the film is only apparent at the very end, which left me wondering for most of the film how things tied together. While Blanchett was convincing as Lydia Tár, her reveal as a character was late in coming and left questions about how she saw her own behavior…Regrets? Satisfaction? Jealousy? What was apparent by the end of the film was that Tár was a survivor, although one wonders how long she would find satisfaction in her new surroundings. And I thought it all could have been said in a shorter film. So, this film did not meet expectations and due to the long length, it was quite late when the film was (finally!) over and everyone hurried home immediately. The Oscars were Sunday night and neither Blanchett or the film won an Oscar, but we were not surprised.