“Tár:” Classical Music and Power Dynamics

Todd Field and Cate Blanchett challenge audiences with an unrelenting new film.

“Tár,” is now available for audiences to stream on Peacock, the film was written and directed by Todd Field, a name that many people may not have heard. Field went sixteen years in between directorial credits, his last feature film was the Oscar-Nominated “Little Children,” in 2006.

In the intervening years, Field directed a handful of commercials, and worked on screenplays. He returned to movies in 2022 with a sprawling script, and two-time Oscar winner Cate Blanchett in the starring role.

“Tár” is an act of provocation, a purposefully-agitational story made up of entirely jagged edges. For 157 minutes, Field shoves his audience into tense conversations about the one percent, cancel culture, power dynamics, artists and obsession.

Field earned two Oscar nominations for best director and best original screenplay. But for as lifelike and dense as Field’s script is, the entire project orbits around a mammoth, Oscar-nominated performance by Cate Blanchett.

Blanchett inhabits the vividly rendered fictional central character Lydia Tár. Lydia is a classically trained and critically-lauded classical music conductor; she’s also a mother, a wife, an adjunct professor at Juilliard, and a quasi-celebrity.

Blanchett plays Lydia with a collection of tics, jitters, and contortive facial expressions that camouflage, or reveal a wide range of emotions throughout the film.

The film opens, with the closing credits. A montage that lasts a handful of minutes and highlights the behind-the-scenes employees of “Tár,” everyone from camera operators to executive producers. From there, we jump to a fic- tionalized New Yorker talk with Lydia Tár, and Adam Gopnik. The scene briskly and effectively places the audience into Field’s highfalutin world of wealth and classical music, also serving as a much-needed introductory exposition.

The film becomes markedly more ambiguous from here, as we follow Lydia’s personal and professional spiral into controversy and chaos without further exposition or simplified language. “Tár” is littered with a litany of technical terms, and long-winded conversations about “Berstein” and “Bach.” Jargon and dialogue that’s likely indecipherable to most audience members, but a creative choice that makes the character seem all the more realistic.

Lydia is unrelenting, some would argue sociopathic, and unconcerned with emotions, people, and opinions she views as beneath her. Very much cut from the same archetypal “Type A,” cloth as a number of formerly powerful men canceled or imprisoned during the “Me Too,” movement, Lydia’s gender and sexual orientation seem calculated, and pointed.

“Tár” is, at its core, a story about immensely talented, narcissistic people, and how these people leverage their power in an effort to maintain their superior societal footing, and positions of power. Moral dissonance and corruption can happen in any professional context, whether that person is gay or straight, male or female, isn’t relevant. What is relevant are their actions.

The skeleton key to understanding Tár,” and where the movie turns on its head, is a scene in the classroom at Julliard. A scene where Lydia confronts a student about “Bach,” and the relevancy of the artist’s personal life, when consider- ing his work.

Blanchett berates the student while playing Bach on the piano, and menacingly walks around the classroom. The facade of Lyida’s public persona begins to crack, and the audience can clearly see the aggression underneath. Some of Field’s best writing is showcased here, with razor-sharp lines like, “If Bach’s talent can be reduced to his gender, birth county, religion sexuality, and so on, then so can yours,” and “Unfortunately the architect of your soul appears to be social media” being fired toward the student at a rapid, staccato pace.

The academic undressing contributes to the cancel culture portion of the screenplay and leads to the most unpredictable third act in recent memory. A sequence that sparked a surplus of think pieces, and conspiracy theories, all of which miss the broader point.

When discussing Bach in the classroom, Lydia says, “He knows that it’s always the question that involves the listener. It’s never the answer, right?”

This is the only line in the film that feels closer to Field than it does Lydia Tár. Almost as if Field is commenting on the opacity of his own artistic output.

“Tár” is chalked full of questions, the sparsity of its answers is what makes it so unique. What happens to Lydia Tár is ultimately open to interpretation, as is the resonance of Field’s overall message. Still, the puzzle pieces are there for anyone who wants to attempt to analyze or assemble them.

King Disease III: A Master Lyricist Remains at the Top of His Craft

Nas is an inarguable rap icon, with critically-acclaimed albums in four separate decades and a Grammy to boot, his legacy within the genre is almost unsaleable. His most prevalent musical adversary, Jay-Z, is the only other living artist who can rival the mix of critical praise and lyrical longevity.

In the intervening five years since Jay-Z’s last solo album “4:44”, Nas has churned out five fulllength albums, with “Kings Disease III” marking his fourth project in two years.

All 54 songs across the sprawling LPs, “King’s Disease,” “King’s Disease II,” “Magic” and now “King’s Disease III” were entirely produced by Hit-Boy, known for producing hits for Kendrick Lamar and Travis Scott, among others. The two have an obvious musical synchronicity that gives Nas an updated flair while managing to preserve his ’90s rap essence. The production vacillates between jazzy and trap-inspired samples and beats that allow Nas to showcase his evergreen lyricism and technical proficiency in a modern-day wrapping.

The album opens with the track “Ghetto Reporter,” which features snippets from an Alan Watts lecture and a Richard Pryor stand up special. Nas loves to open his albums with a mix of social commentary and rap braggadocio, and “Ghetto Re- porter” is no different.

Reinforced by bombastic drums, Nas reflects on the state of the music industry, his own success and the potency of the project audiences are about to listen to. Artists praising their own music is nothing new, and rap especially has no shortage of self-aggrandizing genius claims.

The main difference with Nas — and “KD III” — is that he happens to be right about the quality of his own work. This album is incredibly impressive, and both Nas and Hit-Boy are understand- ably high on their own melodic supply.

A legacy artist who is eighteen albums into a decades-long career displaying this level of creative fervor is almost unheard of. Most rappers of this caliber are either retired, or putting out mediocre projects that complicate their discographies. Eminem and Lil Wayne are similarly renowned artists that are still active, but they’ve both released critically-reviled albums that seem closer to cash grabs than they do earnestly creative endeavors.

Nas is far from the rock bottom of his contemporaries: “Magic,” and the “King’s Disease” trilogy, represent reinvention and modernization. An artist evolving with the trends without losing sight of what made him so successful in the first place — his writing.

He’s always had a knack for constructing vivid stories that place his audience in the world of Queensbridge, containing lyrical prose that’s often imitated, but never replicated. The best showcase of writing on “KD III” is the song “Beef,” where Nas embodies the concept and examines why human beings are so eager to hurt each other over perceived slights.

Without a single feature, Nas stays razor-sharp lyrically, thematically and technically, carrying the album from front to back with his writing and charisma. He sounds motivated and energized, with an almost youthful exuberance for the music.

Societal analysis and reflection from the perspective of an artist who has seen a large number of his colleagues killed, from Biggie Smalls in 1997 to Takeoff in 2022. Luckily for us, Nas is still here, and he’s still in his musical prime.

“The Last of Us” is a Stellar Video Game Adaptation

The show relies on emotional performances and visual effects to recreate a virtual world.

With the conclusion of HBO’s “The Last of Us’” first season, viewers are left reeling after an ultimate cliffhanger. The show has left an indelible mark on television and paves the way for a new era of video game adaptations.

“The Last of Us” is a nine-episode series that explores a powerful journey through post-apocalyptic America. The show follows Joel (Pedro Pascal), a smuggler tasked with escorting Ellie (Bella Ramsey), a young girl who holds the key to a cure for a deadly virus that has decimated the world.

Pascal delivers a poignant performance as a grieving father tasked with a life-or-death task. His chemistry with Ramsey is apparent, and the two share emotional scenes that bring a heartwarming aspect to a dark series. Newcomer Ramsey cements herself as a leading woman and shows promise for upcoming installments. The show’s supporting cast adds intensity to the story, including Gabriel Luna as Joel’s brother Tommy and Merle Dandridge as the leader of the Fireflies.

The show’s writing almost mirrors that of the game and expands on the world written by Neil Druckman and Craig Mazin, who also served as writers for the show. The show carries themes such as loss, love and survival. The third episode, “Long, Long Time,” takes a break from Joel and Ellie’s story and highlights supporting characters Bill and Frank, played by Nick Offerman and “The White Lotus” Murray Bartlett. The episode dives deep into the relationship between the two and helps keep the pace of the larger story.

The show’s design and visual effects are a television wonder. HBO gives viewers a hyper-realistic perspective of a post-apocalyptic America with abandoned buildings and picturesque west coast views.

“The Last of Us” does not lack in the action aspect. The show features gruesome zombies and convincingly taps into the violence and brutality of the game. The action scenes leave viewers anticipating what comes next and are well-placed in

the episodes.

The series has garnered widespread critical praise. The Daily Beast’s Nick Schager writes, “As heartbreakingly faithful as it is riveting and suspenseful, The Last of Us is a triumph that ends any further debate about the all-time best video game adaptation.”

“The Last of Us” isn’t the first video game adaptation to reach the big screen, but it surely tops any list. “Tomb Raider,” “Resident Evil” and “Uncharted” are just a few of the adaptations that have been bested by “The Last of Us.”

The show has already surpassed HBO’s Game of Thrones spinoff “House of the Dragon” in full-season viewership, marking a new high for the streaming service facing “lackluster subscriptions.” The service is reportedly merging with Discovery+ this spring to become “MAX.”

The show has been renewed for a second season, which will be based on the game’s second part. No details have yet been released.