4 Comments
⭠ Return to thread

Beautifully written and you gave me a lot to chew on. And I think your hopefulness is justified. I just saw the movie Tar and I think it achieves the kind of "artiness" you describe, at least in terms of ambiguity. Was expecting a political "Me Too" movie but found an exploration of genius, madness, and ambition that didn't take clear sides. Of course, one conservative critic cherry-picked a scene to dismiss it as a progressive movie while a progressive critic cherry-picked another scene to dismiss it as a conservative one. Would help a whole lot if we took in art with our blinders off (and that would include me).

Expand full comment

Thank you, Johanna. Glad to add what I can to the ongoing conversation we're all rethinking at the moment.

As to Tar — I've been meaning to watch it, in part for the ambivalence I hear it has. The two-way cherry-picking seems the exact problem I mentioned: for political actors, an artistic experience can't exist without being useful to their cause. Hence, the two opposed readings of the film from the two opposed political camps.

Expand full comment
Error