According to cinematographer Florian Hoffmeister, writer/director Todd Field often expressed his desired aesthetic for TÁR in a series of repeated Field-isms: Let’s just witness. Don’t gild the lily. Don’t make it look like a movie with a capital “M.” In other words, make the style invisible. However, Hoffmeister’s work was far from invisible to his peers, who bestowed an Oscar nomination upon the German DP for his work on the film. TÁR—Field’s first feature in more than 15 years—follows the downfall of a composer/conductor played by Cate Blanchett as she prepares a career-capping performance of Mahler’s Fifth Symphony with the Berlin Philharmonic. […]
by Matt Mulcahey on Mar 9, 2023TÁR opens with its namesake, played by Cate Blanchett, being interviewed in front of a packed audience at The New Yorker Festival. The chat serves multiple functions. It delivers the character’s backstory as an EGOT-winning classical composer and conductor, establishes the film’s immersive, observational style and lets the viewer experience sound the way that Lydia Tár experiences it. During the interview, the festival’s audience is only heard as a communal mass. It laughs together. It applauds together. There is no ambient chatter, no whispered asides, no rustling clothes or shuffling feet. It’s only when the interviewer asks about the influence […]
by Matt Mulcahey on Dec 15, 2022Everything Everywhere All at Once was the top winner at the 2022 Gotham Awards, which took place at New York City’s Cipriani Wall Street on November 28. The film, written and directed by 25 New Face alums Daniel Scheinert and Daniel Kwan, took home awards for Best Feature and Outstanding Supporting Performer for Ke Huy Quan’s turn as struggling laundromat owner Waymond Wang. “This time last year, all I was hoping for was a job,” Quan said during his speech. Other notable winners include Todd Field’s TÁR for Best Screenplay and Charlotte Wells’s (another former 25 New Face) Aftersun in […]
by Natalia Keogan on Nov 29, 2022Todd Field’s TÁR simulates ethical complexity to “call into question” cancel culture, which—no matter what Gina Carano, Peter Vack et al. have to say about it—is not an unprecedentedly bold or unthinkable move; millions of Americans are waiting to nod in vociferous agreement. The titular Lydia Tár (Cate Blanchett) first speaks at the New Yorker Festival, in onstage conversation with the magazine’s Adam Gopnik as himself. This prolonged opening (somewhere around 15 minutes) provides an excuse for a lot of expository background: Tár is an EGOT honoree, a revered modern conductor, a lesbian who’s also the first woman appointed to lead a […]
by Vadim Rizov on Sep 1, 2022After a 16-year hiatus from filmmaking, Todd Field is back with TÁR. A new trailer has been released ahead of the film’s forthcoming screenings at fall festivals. TÁR stars Cate Blanchett as the titular character Lydia Tár, a (fictional) world-renowned composer who becomes the first female conductor of a prestigious German orchestra. Though further plot details are sparse, Blanchett will be joined by cast members Nina Hoss, Noémie Merlant and Mark Strong. In the Bedroom, Field’s first film from 2001, ranked sixth on Filmmaker‘s list of the 15 Best Debuts of the Century So Far. In 2006, he returned with […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Aug 25, 2022Todd Field makes his long-awaited return with TÁR, the writer/director’s third narrative feature. The film stars Cate Blanchett as the titular (though fictitious) Lydia Tár, a world-renowned composer who becomes the first female chief conductor of a major German orchestra. TÁR comes 16 years after Field’s previous film, the 2006 psychological drama Little Children, and 21 years after his 2001 debut In the Bedroom (read our interview with Field from the Fall 2001 print issue). Though both films received several Oscar nominations (including Best Picture for In the Bedroom) and overwhelming critical acclaim, none of Field’s subsequent projects have materialized until […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jul 25, 2022