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https://www.wsj.com/articles/tar-a-breath-of-fresh-air-deserves-the-oscar-for-best-picture-cate-blanchett-left-elite-music-canon-indentity-3b60c22a

‘Tár,’ a Breath of Fresh Air, Deserves the Oscar for Best Picture

The film’s dramatization of campus cancel culture gives the subject the treatment it deserves.

By Jason L. Riley

March 7, 2023 6:05 pm ET

A film critics' roundup of the films contending for Best Picture, including All Quiet on the Western Front, Avatar: The Way of Water, The Banshees of Inisherin, Elvis, Everything Everywhere All at Once, The Fabelmans, Tár, Top Gun: Maverick, Triangle of Sadness, and Women Talking. Images: Disney Studios/Searchlight Pictures/ Paramount Pictures/Everett Collection Composite: Mark Kelly

Few will be shocked if “Tár,” a psychological drama about a famous symphony orchestra conductor, wins Best Picture at the Oscars on Sunday, and even fewer will be surprised if Cate Blanchett picks up the Best Actress award for playing the title character. She deserves it.

“Tár” is much too long (2 hours and 38 minutes) and probably too self-consciously highbrow for mass appeal. This is a film that was made to win critical praise and prestigious prizes, not to draw the large crowds that turned out for other Best Picture nominees this year, such as “Top Gun: Maverick” and “Avatar: The Way of the Water.” What recommends the film to people who might otherwise care little about the rarefied world of orchestral music is its timely and sober treatment of the #MeToo era, cancel culture and identity politics.