This is fascinating, I loved every second of it. Such a brilliantly written script and Cate Blanchett’s performance deserves every possible accolade, Lydia Tár is one of the best characters I’ve seen in a long time. The way the film tackles [spoiler] pretension, artistic ego and achievement as a veil for perceived integrity, and the abuse of power that results from it [/spoiler] really spoke to me. Should artists be held accountable or not? Should we seperate art and artist? What is the effect of cancel culture on art? These are questions I’m currently asking myself, as one of my own favorite artists made anti semetic remarks and alligned himself with highly questionable social movements just a few weeks ago, tanking his own career. I used to be firmly in the camp of seperating the two, but this movie made me reconsider that, which is quite an achievement. An achievement made all the more impressive by the fact that there’s no spoonfeeding going on here. The main character isn’t judged in an obvious way and Todd Field clearly wants you to draw your own conclusions. Now, the script is super intricate, there’s a lot of technical mumbo jumbo in it. Having a background in music (and music theory) myself, I can honestly say that a lot of that stuff went over my head. I got the impression that parts of it were meant to be satirical, but still: you don’t need to feel stupid if you don’t have a perfect grasp on what all of that means, because it’s not the crux of the story. Your focus should be drawn to the journey of our main character, which is intriguing by itself. It starts out as a drama, but then incorporates elements of psychological thrillers as the film progresses. After the movie finished, I immediately wanted to go back and dissect how we’d gotten to the point where we end up. The filmmaking is very Fincher-y: it’s cold, impersonal, distant, and it has some of the best one takes you’re going to see this year. It’s confidently slow paced, subtle and the director likes to linger on certain shots for a long time, which will inevitably lead to some of the general audience calling it '''''boring''''', even though it obviously isn’t. In fact, I can even see it winning Oscars in a few technical categories, it’s that exceptional. 9/10

Long and kind of boring. Good performances but that’s about all that can say. Not sure what the fuss is about. 5/10

masterclass in acting from Cate Blanchett

>_“Don’t be so eager to be offended. The narcissism of small differences leads to the most boring conformity.”_ Could arts be viewed independently without considering morals of artists? I think reducing the movie to being about _"cancel culture"_ is doing it a disservice. I had no idea what to expect going into _Tar_, but I was pleasantly surprised with how much I enjoyed it. It's sharp, it's in your face, it's dynamic, a brilliant piece or writing. It's almost unbelievable that this is not based on a true story because it all feels so incredibly real. The pacing was slow, especially the first hour to hour and a half, however, it somehow made 158 minutes pass by without me realizing. Performances, cinematography, screenplay - all of it is just done so well. The dialogue can feel very pretentious, especially when it dives into the engine that drives classical music. Cate Blanchett is so mesmerising that you actually forget it's Cate Blanchett and that Lydia Tár is not a real person. It’s the kind of complex role that women only rarely get. What I loved. The ending! Perfection! [spoiler]Having trouble finding the words to talk about the plot but apparently rock bottom for a famous conductor is a live anime show.[/spoiler]

Despite being a huge Cate Blanchett fan this isn't the first movie of hers I didn't finish (Malick's "Knight of Cups being the other). Having to sit through minutes of credits before the movie even starts, followed by a fifteen minute interview with the main character doesn't help to take me into the movie. So does not knowing all the musical terms they are using here. You hear the words but can't make sense of it (ultimately it might not even be important to understand it but you feel you should). Shortly thereafter another long scene at a restaurant were I again can't make heads or tails what they are talking about. I feel like I am already watching for an hour but it's just barely half of that and I'm looking for reasons to watch this for two more. After another fifteen minutes went by I give up. Why do I want to know more about this person, why should I care ? I don't know. At the two hour mark, the movie just breezing by me, I decide it's not worth it for me. In the past I wrote somewhere, that I would watch Cate sitting on a chair for two hours. And I'd rather would've done that. See, I can't even tell you anything about the content of the movie. I just described how I experienced it. Not for me.