Hacker Cinema
TÁR
2022 · Film · 158 min
Directed by Todd Field
As celebrated conductor Lydia Tár starts rehearsals for a career-defining symphony, the consequences of her past choices begin to echo in the present.
7 positive1 negative1 mixed5 neutralfrom 14 commenters
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14 comments on Hacker News
> Which works today do you think future generations will see as the classics of the 2010s and 2020s?
I think the film Tár will be. It captures the “fake it until you make it” spirit of the present really well along with the god complex and repressed guilt that accompany “making it”. Also the performances and direction are just excellent.
Of course. Gans did not produce the film, but it's possible he got points off the gross, of course; not sure how common that is in the French film industry.
I'm also thinking about other directors who have long periods of silence. I assume that often these gaps are filled with script doctor work, canceled projects (which nevertheless provide some paid work), commercials, and other side gigs. Todd Field had a 15-year gap between Little Children and Tár, and he clearly was busy with other things. But many directors have big gaps in their filmographies without any such obvious activity.
A small sample of things we're doing all wrong, according to Slate:
* Measuring the economy
* Thinking about the long tail theory
* Giving kids allowance
* Understanding teen happiness
* Making risotto
* Talking about the movie Tár
* Making movies about Malthusian population explosions
* Thinking about herd immunity
* Legalizing marijuana
* Estimating the age of menopause
https://slate.com/search?q=all+wrong#gsc.tab=0&gsc.q=all%20wrong&gsc.page=1
That's from the first two pages, there are at least ten.
Tár was subtly layered. I saw several people discussing it as if it was about "the separation of art and artist", when the film spent several minutes explaining how much of a talentless phony she was.
EEAAT was much easier to digest. The message was embedded and one doesn't need to reflect on it, and make decisions about it.
Agreed. Everything Everywhere had a lot of style and the potential to be a great film, but it got bogged down in unfunny gags and sentimental cliches. Tár deserved to win best picture, in my opinion.
In the movie "Tar" there is a sequence where Tar explains why Bach is so powerful and while playing one of his pieces, (possibly Brandenburg concerto) explains thatch pece is a conversation with itself. Brilliant!
I mean, there are superhero films, and then there are Martin McDonagh films like In Bruges (2008), Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017), and The Banshees of Inisherin (2022). Or a movie like Tár (2022).
I wonder if it's less a function of 1980 vs 2020, and more a function of genre, and which genres have been more popular at the cinema in which decade. Or which genres you personally happen to be aware of or watching.
I mean, it's not like the original Star Wars (1977) was slow-paced and thoughtful.
There have been plenty of great, original movies post-2010 that push filmmaking in some way, they’re just overshadowed by the marvels of the world. Some of my recent favorites:
Tar
Sorry to Bother You
Uncut Gems
Get Out
Tangerine/The Florida Project
Dogtooth
Mad God
Not all American movies but most:
Have you watch Pig (2021)? It wasn't even nominated to the Oscars. Also IMHO Tar (2022) is an excellent movie. J'Accuse (An Office and a Spy...) (2019), The Father (2020), Also liked The Northman (2022). IMHO The House of Gucci (2021) is the best acting of Adam Driver that made me forget he acted in Star Wars.
Sorry but I need to continue with Boiling Point (2021), Dune (2021), Riders of Justice (2020), The Mauritanian (2021).
In a similar vein, it seems these days that every time a character walks into a dark room to check something out (not just wandering around aimlessly), they fail to turn on the lights, which is something I think most people would do first. And not just horror films trying to scare you - for example the recent movie "Tár" has at least one scene just like this.
2022 - Kimi, After Yang, Crimes of the Future, White Noise, Official Competition, Everything Everywhere All At Once, Tar, Mona Lisa and the Blood Moon
2021 - Nightmare Alley, The Card Counter, Zola, The French Dispatch, Come True, Don't Look Up, I Care A Lot,
2020 - I'm Thinking of Ending Things, Mank, The Sound of Metal, Possessor, His House
2019 - Climax, Uncut Gems, Parasite, Vivarium, First Cow
2018 - The Clovehitch Killer, Prospect, Mute, Anon, Mandy, The House That Jack Built, Cam, Sorry to Bother You
2018 had a glut of Netflix sci-fi B-movies that I think are very solidly good if not so great. I think they're underrated so I included them. I might have also messed up on the years.
These are all films I've seen. There are many others that I suspect are even better that I haven't seen.
"The flip side of that is that it closes the valves of one's attention"
- from the movie Tar
The movie TÁR opens with a music class where Prof. Tár plays the Prelude in C for a reluctant student who says he can't relate to Bach because he was a hetero white guy. All he can say is "You play very well."
I've played that, of course, since there aren't any conventionally difficult parts in it. There is something about that piece that just gets inside you. That has to be the definition of a really great work of art: you can't say what, exactly, is great about it, but somehow it's just there.
I always wonder what Bach would have said about it. "Oh, yeah, that. Just something I tossed off."
Are they even marketing these movies?
> The result is a fall movie season that has manifested the total disinterest of mature moviegoers, who are now unwilling to watch any of the well-reviewed/Oscar contenders. The list keeps piling up: “Till” ($8.6 million total), “The Banshees of Inisherin” ($7.8 million), “TÁR” ($5.1 million), “She Said” ($4.2 million), “Triangle of Sadness” ($4 million), “Bones and All” ($3.7 million), “The Fabelmans” ($3.4 million), “Armageddon Time” ($1.8 million), “Aftersun” ($790,000).
This is the first time I have heard of any of these.
Anyway, my wife and I used to love going to movies...but life changes (COVID followed by young kids) make that a lot harder. Our date nights are much fewer and far between and we prefer to spend them doing more high quality activities together. If we want to sit in silence in close proximity eating some tasty treats staring at a screen why wouldn't we just do that in our own home after the kids are in bed for the night?