‘TAR’ Film Review: Cate Blanchett Is at Her Peak in Razor-Sharp Character Study
thewrap.compost-post-MeToo character study that premiered on Thursday at the Venice Film Festival – should be heralded for offering a neat corollary to Chekhov’s Gun, a theatrical theory that states that if you introduce a gun in Act 1, you’d better fire it by Act 3.
Call this version Gopnik’s Speech. Because no film could open, as “Tár” does, with such a long and portentous introduction to the main character (She’s at the top of her game!
She’s on a nickname basis with Leonard Bernstein! She’s a bloody EGOT!), delivered by the New Yorker’s Adam Gopnik playing himself, without clearly signaling its intent: for the two-and-a-half hours that follow, our poor protagonist will have nowhere to go but down.
And down she will go, falling from grace, and from the highest perch of the highbrow scene (see that fawning introduction) over the course of a tightly wound and impeccably crafted showcase for Cate Blanchett at her peak.
Read more on thewrap.com