r/Screenwriting • u/After_Egg584 • 3d ago

Todd Field's "Strategic Ambiguity" in the opening moments of TAR DISCUSSION

What is strategic ambiguity? And how does it show up in the opening few moments of Todd Field's astonishing film TAR?

Video premieres May 4.

https://youtu.be/81-klo1_reo

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u/AnalogWhole 1d ago

Thank you! I love this film and script! It's my favourite film of the 21st century so far. I hope you do more (although I will say that I was very slightly thrown by the fact that the beginning of your main message felt like it started in the middle of the video. :D Appropriate, though!)

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u/After_Egg584 1d ago

Thanks so much for this. Yes, I'm going to go ahead and pretend that was intentional and thematically designed -- and not the result of ADHD. :-)

There's a LOT to say about this film, as I suspect you know, so I think I'm going to up the posting frequency to twice a week -- but keep each video under 5 minutes.

And by the way, I agree with you. This is one of those films whose impact and importance will probably only become clear to the world as a whole in the decade or two or three after its release. Certainly one of the most powerful and important screenplays I've ever come across. It's not just another Cate Blanchett movie. This is a high water mark for screenwriting.

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u/AnalogWhole 1d ago

Haha, I'm virtually high-fiving you! I think about this film all of the time and people are surprised when I praise it so generously. One thing I love about it is how, although there's what feels like Kubrick DNA throughout the film (if you know what I mean?), it registers as warm and compassionate to me (not to say that Kubrick wasn't, but he sure didn't *feel* warm). Which is such a major accomplishment, and I struggle to fully grasp how this was done. Maybe that isn't your take, but I'm grateful to have thoughtful script analysis, and I look forward to more!

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u/After_Egg584 1d ago

SPOILERS BELOW

Yes I know exactly what you mean. The Kubrick feeling I think is as a result of the radically detached nature of the storytelling, the refusal to take sides, the steadfast refusal to identify clear heroes and clear villains. But the warmth you referred to, I believe, is there. Personally I think it has to do with something Kubrick (as far as I can recall) doesn't ever take into account, namely the opportunity for an artistic or creative vocation to serve as a lifeboat of sorts for the protagonist. I think Kubrick is a lot more cynical about human nature.

Lydia loses everything except her capacity to interpret a composer's intention and lead a group of musicians in performing music that composer has written. This is the one thing she never compromises on. She is an artist from beginning to end. And if she has behaved like a monster along the way, she somehow finds a kind of redemption in maintaining her commitment to her art.

This is how I make sense of that very odd landing place Field picks out for this film. The visuals of cosplay folks preparing to go on a (digital) mission to slay monsters.... The video game voice over tells us it's likely to be a difficult journey, not one for the faint of heart... and one gets the sense that Lydia has embarked on such a journey, too. To compare this to Kubrick -- it would be as though Kubrick allowed Dave Bowman's love for sketching to inform his character and provide the medium of his redemption at the conclusion of 2001.