Tár movie review - Aussieboyreviews

IS TÁR THE NEXT BEST MUSIC-DRAMA WORTH ANY AWARDS?

With a fine performance from Cate Blanchett, the answer is a sharp and fast “no”. This may be a really good film in the eyes of some critics, but nothing stops it from being extremely boring, uninteresting and highly confusing.

Storyline

Lydia Tár, known as one of the greatest music conductors and the first female director of a German orchestra, reaches the height of her career. But her downfall follows shortly afterwards.

Movie Images

Movie details

Director: Todd Field
Cast: Cate Blanchett, Noémie Merlant, Nina Hoss, Sophie Kauer, Julian Glover, Allan Corduner
Writer: Todd Field
Release Date (Australia): 26 January 2023
Runtime: 158 minutes/2h 38m
Genre: Drama, Music
Country: USA
Language: English, German, French, Filipino

CONTENT GUIDE (warning: May contain spoilers)

Themes (M)

The film contains references to sexual abuse, suicide and mental insanity.

Violence (M)

The film includes punches and a depiction of a woman is falling on concrete stairs, accompanied by blood and bruising detail.

Coarse Language (M)

The film includes occasional use of the word “f**king” and use of the words “bitch”, “**shole”, “damn”, “hell” and “s**t”.

Nudity (M)

The film contains a brief depiction of frontal female nudity and the silhouette of a nude woman.

Sex (PG)

The film includes mild verbal references to sex, sexual abuse, masturbation and “climaxing”.

mpaa rating

R (for some language and brief nudity)

Aussie boy's thoughts

This movie is about as interesting as watching average people talking and going through their typical everyday lives, but the film picks up during a period of time where you have absolutely no idea what’s going on for the entire film. Tár is a music-drama that had all of the potential and characteristics of a compelling story with thoughts to provoke, but it completely dumps that massive opportunity as if it were just a meaningless piece of junk.

Focusing on one of the greatest (fictional) music conductors, Tár is an extremely disappointing movie with so much promising elements to praise. Audiences will witness a very solid performance delivered by the talented Cate Blanchett, beautifully crafted orchestra sequences that don’t take up the time Blanchett deserves, as well as marvellous direction from Todd Field and themes surrounding sexual abuse perpetrated by a female, who’s also the lead character.

To just be blunt, the most alluring way to find out or “experience” the events that occur in this painfully long drama is honestly to just read or look at the film’s plot summary, which you’ll probably be able to locate on Google or YouTube. It would also be the recommended way, because Tár is an entirely convoluted movie with nothing to understand correctly other than the fact that Cate Blanchett plays a music artist who gets involved in some sort of controversy. There are two lengthy films during the start, one being a conversation between the students and teacher, in addition to two moments in the final 20 minutes that are actually understandable. This is a film you’re better off forgetting or just reading a summary of the storyline. The talent and themes aren’t enough to overpower the extreme boredom. If you want a psychological music-drama, the next best is 2014’s Whiplash.

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