Cate Blanchett was recently named Letterboxd’s most watched actress of 2022. A pretty big achievement, but if you put it into perspective, it makes perfect sense. She played the major role of the Lady Galadriel in The Lord of the Rings, brought the goddess of death to life in the MCU’s Thor: Ragnarok, but found success most recently in Todd Field’s Tár, for which she secured herself a best actress nomination at the academy awards. Blanchett plays the role of the story’s namesake, Lydia Tár, a musical composer who has achieved great success over the span of her career. She reaches closer and closer to the defining moment of her life, but before she can reach it, a slew of allegations are raised against her, and the fame she once savored begins to sour, and soon threatens to fade away. I’m going to come right out and say that Tár deserves all it’s nominations and praise that it has received. Surely one of the most human films I’ve seen in a long time, and it’s all held together by an impeccable screenplay. The script itself was a mere 90 or so pages, and the fact that it translated to a 158 minute movie as well as it did was utterly astounding. Every line of dialogue spoken was harshly real, and although one could try to argue that they were just adding in filler, everything within the confines of the narrative is absolutely necessary; there was never a time where I thought something could be cut or trimmed. And pairing the sharpness of the screenplay with excellent camera work, the movie is a downright, fascinating pleasure to watch. With almost every dialogue heavy scene, the camera refused to cut, and it may not be something one would notice, the subconscious effect it has is fantastic, helping the immersion and building an emotional connection to the character. On the topic of the character itself, she may have some tough competition this year, but Cate Blanchett more than earned her nomination. She plays a woman who you’d imagine to be larger than life, but Blanchett brings a vulnerability to this role, and you can tell she gets lost in it, much like her character does the music. Packed with an astounding crescendo (see what I did there?) to it’s payoff, cinematic intensity, and a gripping performance, Tár was an absolute pleasure to watch, and the behemoth looking runtime, quite literally, runs by quicker than you’d imagine.