TÁR

In a film with so much opportunity for bombast, it’s the quiet that reigns paramount. In that quiet is the glimpse into the what makes Cate Blanchett’s Lydia Tár so vulnerable to the fall from grace she so desperately ignores.  Tár is so layered, so true to the arc of storytelling. Without the titular character’s immaculately portrayed process of establishing herself at the top of her station, the fall downwards wouldn’t seem so devastating cruel.  In that first half of building, the journey was not so much to the top, it was the establishment that top was where we were from the beginning, that Lydia was at the highest point one could be in her chosen career. I found this journey to be quite enjoyable, a method that enabled the joy of the craft to be displayed, eliciting a feeling in such contrast to that of the second half. In faithful fashion, the arc’s trajectory changes direction once it reaches its peak, and in a masterful telling we see the fall that was promised.  I don’t think I’ve ever before been so excited for a rewatch of a film yet so eager to let the first watch linger. Tár is one of my favorites of the year, one of my favorites in a good while. When that second watch comes I believe a much different set of eyes will be watching than the first go around.