 I'm trying to put myself out there more. You know? Trying to branch from the mainstream popcorn blockbuster films and get a little bit more art. Get a little bit more culture into my life. I've tried in the past, it didn't stick. But now at the tender age of 39 pushing 40, midlife crisis, setting in, I thought, you know what, Adam? Take a chance. Take a chance on tar. So I went out and sat with a buddy and two and a half hours later, we left feeling kind of empty, a little confused, a little concerned, and a lot impressed. Let's talk about tar briefly. Tar is a focus features joint. Remember Focus? They were like 824 before 824 took the spotlight. Kate Blanchett stars as Lydia Tar. She's a highly acclaimed world-renowned composer. A brilliant mind, a beautiful mind that we get to watch kind of spiral out of control. Some of it at her own hand, some of it at the hands of others. I'm gonna tell you right out of the gates, this is a long movie, it's a slow movie. General audiences will hate the shit out of this and they should watch Mr. Holland's Opus instead because that's a feel good film. That moves well. That's got symphonies, it's got conducting going on. It has a lovable lead, it's got lovable characters. Tar has none of that. And yet I was still very captivated by it. You know what, I shouldn't say captivated, I was intrigued by it. I was impressed with how beautiful it looked. I loved the music when it was there. The performance by Kate Blanchett is on a different level. Easy, easy Oscar contender here. Will she go unnoticed though because this movie's under the radar? Maybe, only time will tell. And if you think I'm full of shit and that this is a movie that's definitely gonna win your grandma over, let me just say this. The first five minutes are credits. Like end credits, black screen, tiny little font. And this just goes for what feels like an eternity. Then we jump into a one-on-one conversation in a giant auditorium with unbroken camera shots for multiple minutes at a time. I honestly loved this. I could have sat and watched an hour and a half of these two just conversing. Kate Blanchett is mesmerizing in this performance. She owns this role as a cold, calculated, passionate composer who seems hell bent on destroying her own legacy without even knowing it. She's the villain in her own life. I've been praising Kate Blanchett, but what about the rest of the cast, the supporting actors? They're fine. I don't care. Kate Blanchett steamrolls everything they do. Mark Strong's at some points wandering onto the set, just wondering how long he has to be there because Blanchett's just eating up all the scenery. It's fine. They're fine. She's the star of this thing. It's a one-woman show. A criticism I would typically throw at a film like this, but I won't. I'll just say it just for the sake of saying it for talking, is that the film doesn't take a lane and go with it, meaning Kate Blanchett's character. Tar, she's very headstrong. She's not afraid to get in your face and tell you that you are completely wrong about something, and most of the time I find myself agreeing with her. She's taking chances. She's making bold moves, but she's doing it in a very douchey way. She's kind of like a female Larry David without the humor and the charm. She definitely has the success though. If you want to be like me and put yourself out there and try a different type of movie, I do recommend it. I can't say you're going to be blown away. I wasn't. I left the movie kind of just stale on it. Like that was kind of a disappointing ending, but then I let it fester. I didn't rush my review out. I sat with it a couple days. I even talked to my buddy who also felt the same way. We were very interested in the movie and engaged in holding on to every word people spoke, but it didn't like hit hard with anything. It was very flat all the way through, which is ironic to say about a movie that's about a musical composer. I am going to jump into some of the spoilers for a little bit here, because I feel like talking about them with people that saw the flick and just give some of my thoughts really briefly. If you don't want to have any spoilers, not that there's anything like Earth shattering here. She doesn't turn out to be a vampire or anything. Subscribe to the channel, like it if you want, and hopefully I'll see you next time. All right, I'm gonna keep going here. The movie also has commentary about new generations of kids, millennials, and whatever the X and the Y's. I honestly don't remember all the labels, but they have so many of them. It's hard to even get it all straight anymore. Your pan, your sis, your bye, your straight, your try, your tran. I don't care, I don't know, live your life, be happy, that's great. But what happens in this film is students start to push back on her and say, we don't like the teachings you're doing because it's by a toxic male. Well, there's a lot of toxic people out there, both men, women, all walks of life. And she says that to him in such a crass, vulgar way that even if the message was there and it could have came across, it was lost in the way that she translated it. And of course, this stuff all comes back at some point to haunt her. And she has to deal with the blowback and eventually she will come to terms with the reality that maybe this isn't the life that was meant for her. The film definitely portrays Tara as someone that's struggling with some OCD issues. She is a genius, but man, her ears, they can hear things miles away and it really grates on her. And I love all the little nuance things that Blanchett does with this. Whether it's her stopping a kid's leg from shaking because his foot's making an obnoxious noise on the floor to a rattling in the car that you know she is forcefully ignoring. To, of course, the metronome that's ticking and talking back and forth in her brain, driving her crazy. And that's really at the center, the core of this film. It's all about keeping a rhythm. She does it in her day to day at work. She needs to learn how to do it with her home life. And that's the thing that's definitely off. Something about the way she's living isn't working in her favor. So she radically changes things. She discovers herself all over again. And when this movie wraps up, she's in a much smaller but better place in a completely different country speaking to people that have no idea who she is. So she can finally let her work speak for herself again and not be judged and labeled and have her personal life dissected. She can just be tar, a brilliant composer. I did graze across some of the reviews out there seeing if anybody else noticed this. I didn't see anything. So I'm gonna go ahead and say that I'm the only one that caught what I think was an intent here. Time is a human construct. The metronome goes back and forth. It swings both directions. And I think that this movie plays out the exact same way. There was a conscious reason why the director started with five minutes of end credits. There's a reason why he opened the shot with her talking about all of her achievements in front of a massive auditorium of adoring fans. And it's not just because it's an easy writing technique to get people invested and on board with how smart this character is. You showcase all of her achievements in a way that's so easily explained in a monologue. But the other reason is this. What we're looking at is the high point in her career. All eyes are on her, respect is at all time high. From here on out, it's gonna be a very slow, gradual downhill fall. Until inevitably she's in a completely different place that she's happy with. This movie could be played in the exact opposite order. We could take this thing in reverse from the end to the beginning. Look, she's in some third world country talking to a small auditorium of kids dressed up in cosplay. And watch as she leaves this country and goes to America, finds her dreams. And now she's teaching at the Juilliard, school of some of the most brilliant composers on the planet. And then she ends at a composium, speaking in front of all these adoring people about her life's work. And then we have the uncredits. It's not about the fame. It's not about the recognition. It's not about the glory. It's about making the art for yourself. And for people that genuinely care about it and don't wanna label it, don't wanna patent it, don't wanna sell it. Respect. Did you see Tar? Did you love it? Did you hate it? Where are you at with it? Let me know in the comments below. Like the video if you had a good time. Subscribe if you haven't. I post tons of movie related content each and every week. Would love to have you here joining me. Until next time, take care. Oh wow, you made it past the bumper. I appreciate that. You know what else I'd appreciate? Become a Patreon on patreon.com slash adam does movies. There's a $1 tier all the way up into 30. And if you did 30 bucks a month, you not only support my channel, this one man operation, I also let you pick out your own movie for me to review and give you a shout out. It's not a bad deal at all, honestly. So maybe think about it. I encourage you to. You can also become a member right here on YouTube via that join button. I'm on Twitch where I actually film this review live in front of a full streaming audience. And I have a Discord at Adam Does Movies so you can chat with me once in a while there. A lot of places to find me. Love to see you around.