Tar

 2/4

Starring: Cate Blanchett, Noemie Merlant, Nina Hoss, Sophie Kauer, Julian Glover, Allen Corudner, Mark Strong

Rated R for Some Language and Brief Nudity

When it comes to "Tar," there's Cate and then there's everyone else.  Cate Blanchett is like Meryl Streep: she's a filmmaker's ace in the hole.  She may not be able to save a subpar film like "Tar," but she'll damn well try.

Lydia Tar (Blanchett) is one of the symphony's most celebrated conductors.  Through hard work and raw talent, she has found herself at her dream job: conducting the Berlin Philharmonic with her wife Sharon (Hoss) at her side.  But Lydia has her dark side, and once you're at the top, the only way to go is down.  Lydia is about to find this out the hard way.

"Tar" is in many ways a traditional biopic, albeit of a fictional individual.  Could've fooled me.  I fully expected to be able to go to Wikipedia and find Tar's page.  The film is so grounded that it plays like a documentary.  Unfortunately, that's also the problem.

Art house movies, or at least the bad ones, have a tendency to either show off or eschew any kind of manipulation, which is more or less the same thing.  Filmmaking is manipulation; the director decides how to tell the story in order to generate a certain emotion in the audience.  They use shot selection, lighting, music, and every other tool at their disposal to achieve this goal.  No filmmaker can ever hope to be a success unless they are willing to embrace this simple truth.  Keeping that in mind, it's hard to believe that this came from the mind of Todd Field.

Todd Field is no hack filmmaker.  Previously known as a bit player (he was Belzer in "Twister" and Nick Nightingale in "Eyes Wide Shut"), he radically reinvented himself twenty years ago when his debut film, "In the Bedroom," caused a sensation at the Sundance Film Festival and was accorded five Oscar nominations.  It signaled the arrival of a bright new voice in American cinema.  His next film, "Little Children," wasn't as well received but cannot be lightly discounted.

Now he brings us "Tar," his first film in sixteen years.  What happened?  Either Field lost his touch in the intervening years or those two films sapped whatever creative energy he had.  "Tar" is dry, has a hazy narrative and is at least an hour longer than necessary.  These are hallmarks of self-important hacks and wannabe auteurs, not from a man who made those previous films.  I expected more from him.

If "Tar" fails, it isn't for lack of effort on the part of Cate Blanchett.  She throws herself into the cliched role of a genius whose arrogance brings about her downfall.  That's a formula as old as the hills, but it's what Field and Blanchett do with it that makes Lydia so memorable.  Lydia isn't necessarily pompous and big headed, but rather she has become so acclimated to her success that she has grown to accept the accoutrements as a given part of her life.  She feels entitled to her power, and that her talent allows her to flirt with the pretty new girls and dole out roles and jobs as she pleases.  While the full picture of her crimes is never made clear, it's obvious that she crossed the line long ago.  In many ways, Lydia is a monster, but Blanchett keeps our sympathies aligned with her.

There's no denying it: "Tar" is Oscar bait, and with its release date, Focus Features is doing little to hide it.  It doesn't work well enough to become a sleeper hit and the marketing campaign is nonexistent so it will likely be forgotten by the time awards season comes into full swing.  Hollywood is desperate to become relevant again to people other than superhero fans now that the pandemic is over and film lovers are ignoring theaters in favor of streaming services.  But "Tar" will do nothing to reverse this trend.

Sixteen years is a long time to wait for the next film from budding talent, and "Tar" isn't worth it.