From Tár to The Whale: What’s on at the Cambridge Arts Picturehouse in January and February 2023
Sponsored feature | Our film critic, Mark Walsh, takes a look at the latest releases and special events at the cinema.
Read Mark’s verdict on the top 50 films of 2022 in two halves - part I and part II - and his look ahead to the most anticipated movies of 2023.
Tár
What a testament it must be to your skill as an actor to have a script not only specifically written for you, but to have the writer and director comment that, if you’d turned it down, it would never have seen the light of day. Such is the case with the new film from Todd Field, clearly someone setting himself high standards after his first two films, In The Bedroom and Little Children, won both critical and audience acclaim. It’s taken 15 years for a project to come to fruition, so I’d imagine he’s as relieved as anyone that Cate Blanchett said yes to his script!
Blanchett also acts as an executive producer on Field’s story of fictional conductor and composer Lydia Tár, a pianist who has reached the exalted heights of becoming the first female conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic. On the verge of completing a cycle of Mahler symphonies, she demonstrates a willingness to manipulate anyone around her to achieve her goals, but such alienation can only support her career for so long before the repercussions of her actions are felt.
Field’s film is meticulously researched and, while showing a deep love for the art form it portrays, it’s not afraid to generate debate about music or the roles and responsibilities within it. Some have criticised the negative portrayal of a female character when there is still so much imbalance in the music industry, but even they would struggle to deny the tremendous quality of Blanchett’s performance.
That performance extends to conducting the orchestra on set live, as well as some piano playing, and such was Field’s commitment to verisimilitude that the orchestra’s soloist is played by cellist Sophie Kauer in her first acting role. A strong cast also includes Noémie Merlant, Nina Hoss, Julian Glover and Mark Strong, but this is Blanchett’s film, and I’d be surprised if she gets through awards season empty handed.
Tár is screening now.
Watersprite Young Programmers: La Haine
The Watersprite Film Festival has become a significant fixture in the city’s cinematic calendar, with students at both Cambridge and Anglia Ruskin universities running what has become the UK’s largest international student film festival. As part of the warm-up to this year’s festival, the organisers are holding an event at the Arts Picturehouse on Monday, January 30. The event is only £4.99 for anyone under 25.
The film they’re showing, in a screening supported by BFI Network Film Hub South East, is one made by its French director when he was also under 30. Mathieu Kassovitz wrote, co-edited and directed La Haine, which also gave Vincent Cassel his breakthrough role. Cassel plays Vinz, who’s looking to avenge a fellow local in their Parisian suburb and who finds a missing police revolver during the riots that arise after the attack. It’s a chance to reappraise one of the defining works of Nineties French cinema back on the big screen.
National Theatre Live: The Crucible
The chance to see the finest theatre from the capital without the hassle of getting into central London remains a significant draw, and the first opportunity of 2023 is to catch up with a new staging of Arthur Miller’s 1953 play which was an allegory for McCarthyism and the contemporary political situation in America.
Recorded on the Oliver Stage at the National Theatre, Lyndsey Turner’s production stars Erin Doherty, best known for her role in The Crown. Es Devlin’s stage design is sparse and puts the focus firmly on the actors as the town of Salem, Massachusets is overtaken by talk of witchcraft before accusations start flying and the town’s leaders begin a search for the truth.
The Stage magazine described Turner’s version of Miller’s masterpiece as “thrillingly gripping”, while the Telegraph’s Dominic Cavendish describes Doherty as “one of our finest young actresses” in his five star review and Time Out’s Andrzej Lukowski described it as bringing out “the exquisite tension in Miller’s writing”. There are two chances to see for yourself this latest adaptation and to make your own judgements.
NT Live: The Crucible is showing on Thursday, January 26, with an encore screening on Tuesday, February 7.
The Whale
There’s an adage that form is temporary but class is permanent. It’s most often used in sporting arenas, but it comes to mind when considering actors experiencing a career renaissance. There was always a feeling with Brendan Fraser that he’d never quite gotten to show just how good he was, despite making an appealing blockbuster lead in The Mummy films and excelling in dramatic roles such as Gods And Monsters opposite Ian McKellen. But it took Darren Aronofsky (Requiem For A Dream, Black Swan) to spot his talent and to give him that deserved second chance.
The role is a physically challenging one, with Fraser required to wear prosthetics weighing up to 300 lbs to portray Charlie, an English professor working from home who keeps his camera off when teaching online to avoid revealing his morbid obesity to his students. We follow him over the course of a week, grappling with his personal demons and also experiencing confrontations with his nurse Liz (Hong Chau) who wants him to seek hospital treatment, with his ex-wife (Samantha Morton) and estranged daughter (Sadie Sink) over his failings as a father, and with a Christian missionary (Ty Simpkins) who refuses to take no for an answer.
Aronofsky directs Samuel D. Hunter’s play – the writer adapting it for the screen himself – with a similar staginess to its original setting, but this does allow the intimacy of the character drama to be fully explored. Fraser brings astonishing pathos and sincerity to his portrayal of Charlie, and it’s testament to his gifts that it really is difficult to think of another actor delivering such a compelling portrayal. Fraser remains a well-deserved contender in awards season and while all the talk has been of his return to the top of his profession, it’s also Aronofsky’s best work since Black Swan over a decade ago.
The Whale opens on Friday, February 3.
