MONDAY, MARCH 6, 2023
Hooray for Hollywood: No, it doesn't exactly matter.
That said, this Sunday night is our nation's annual Oscars night. Also, we're interested in the sorts of things you can occasionally read in the New York Times, perhaps from interested parties.
We refer to today's guest essay about the Oscar-nominated feature film, Tár. The essay was written by Stephen Mauceri, a conductor and author.
Headline included, the essay starts like this:
Who’s Afraid of Lydia Tár?
The Academy Awards are still a week away, but at least one verdict is in: “Tár” is a hit, having already won some 60 international awards and six Oscar nominations, including for best picture, best directing and best actress in a leading role. It has also engendered passionate conversations, articles and interpretations.
“Tár” is a hit, Mauceri writes. From there, he proceeds to list the film's many awards, and he cites its six nominations. The film has also engendered passionate conversations, we're told.
Tár has won a lot of awards, but is it really "a hit?" Traditionally, that designation has been a reference to a film's performance at the box office—and to this day, for all the fanfare and all the nominations, Tár remains a major flop when judged by that brutal metric.
As of today, Tar's total take at the "domestic" box office—in the United States and Canada—stands at $6.7 million, according to Box Office Mojo. Unless we use the term "critical hit," it's odd to see a film which performed so poorly at the turnstiles heralded as a hit.
Box office isn't a measure of quality, but it has proven to be impossible to get people to go see Tár. Example:
As of this past weekend, Tár was showing in 444 domestic theaters. That was a jump from the previous number (236), presumably in anticipation of pre-Oscar rumbling.
Result? This past Saturday, the average take for Tár was just $40 per theater—and no, that isn't a typo. You can't make us the people go see Tár—but in this morning's New York Times, you can read that it's a hit.
Box office isn't a measure of quality. For us, Tár has been especially interesting because of the chasm between highly favorable critical assessments and the public's refusal to show.
Has Tár been a hit? As noted, the claim was lodged by John Mauceri, who may well be an excellent conductor. That said, what else is John Mauceri? The identity line tells us this:
Mauceri is a conductor and author, and was the musical adviser to the filmmakers of “Tár.”
Mauceri may have been an excellent musical adviser to the filmmakers too! Journalistically, though, a question lingers:
No, it doesn't exactly matter—but was this film a hit?
Somerby ignores all of the interesting comments made in this editorial about Tar, including reactions of other conductors and a review of the increased number of women who are now conducting major orchestras. Instead he focuses on box office, as if money were the measure of the film, despite his disingenuous disclaimers.
ReplyDeleteSomerby seems not to have noticed that movie theaters are struggling because the film genre is now a matter of streaming, not people going out to see a show. Tar has been available on streaming for weeks now, so anyone who wants to see it can view it as part of a subscription and doesn't need to go to the movies. Home sound systems are largely better than those in theaters too. Given this sea change in how films are seen, which was happening even before covid, Somerby's insistence that Tar must be a flop because of its box office is ridiculous and shows how little Somerby has been paying attention (or how much Somerby is going out of his war to disparage this film).
correction: out of his way
Deleteanother correction: Gopherbone
DeleteSomerby only needed to read the first sentence to silence his weird criticism, the author immediately qualifies the usage of the word “hit”, 60 awards bla bla bla.
DeleteThis author rubbed Somerby the wrong way, but he did something Somerby and his right wing pals never do, he defined his terms.
This movie befuddles Somerby because he doesn’t like it, he’s not sure why, yet it has also been criticized by those on the left; Somerby can’t tell which way the wind is blowing.
ReplyDelete"You can't make us the people go see Tár—but in this morning's New York Times, you can read that it's a hit."
Yawn. But you can't make us the people to read the New York Times either, dear Bob.
...consequently, we the people are mercifully spared from cognitive dissonance you, dear Bob, experience...
Message to Somerby -- please weed out the troll spam.
ReplyDeletespam
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The above comment is the smartest, most well-thought-out economic idea the Right has ever come up with.
DeleteBy the 3rd "spam", it made a mockery of Reaganomics.
Ruby Freeman is an election worker
ReplyDeletewho was told She had to stay at work.
So She pulled a box off the floor and
put it back on the table.
For this, Trump and his loyalists
turned her life into a nightmare.
Bob has no interest in this. “Shucks,
the poor man is disordered” would be
Bob’s response. Needless to say,
the ugly racial aspect of the incident
does not bother Bob, he had already
written off the committee (However
lamely) by then.
Bob gets down to what he really
thinks is important with Tar’s Box
Office recipients. How a “hit” is defined
Probably goes beyond early box office
in a lot of ways. But in any event,
Bob is a weirdo.
I see that The University of Florida at Kabul has gotten Gov. DeSantis's directive banning women from attending university.
ReplyDeleteRuby Freeman was an election worker who was told
ReplyDeleteShe had to stay later to work. So She pulled a box out
and put it back on the shelf.
For this, Donald Trump and his loyalists singled her
out, and turned her life into something of a nightmare.
Bob has no interest in this. The abuse of power
seems to fit well into his "shucks, the poor man is
disordered" dismissal of all Trump's illegality.
Needless to say, the horrifying racial aspect of
the incident does not bother Bob, and by the time
it came up in the hearings Bob had written off the
committee, too partisan!
So bare this one example in mind as Bob gets
down to what REALLY matters: how well Tar has
done at the Box Office. Given the total amount of
people who have seen the film weighed against
a typical movie, calling it a "hit" is not exactly
far fetched, and should it nab and Oscar or two,
it may be well on it's way to a late breaking run
on ticket sales. But most movies are seen now on
internet services anyway. As a talked about film, it
has a good chance of being relevant, loved
and reviled, to a much greater extent than even
a movie that has done well at the box office.
But Bob's priorities, in any event, have become
deeply suspect, as they are very stupid.
We hit the cronic well ain't that ironic
ReplyDeleteThats why they call us the Doobies(Scooby-Doobies)
Cause we give the flicks to do us a floosey
Drop the panties and give up the booty
I think I'll pass, she's got the cooties
So we get the funk on to find us a groupie
You tell the hope, they're ain't nottin like a doobie
Groovy, as I funk up the room
Wopbabalubop balap bam boom