At the very end of the 2022 film Tár, Cate Blanchett gets back in the conductor’s saddle but this time it’s to a gamer’s score, and cosplayers can be seen in the audience. This seemingly nonsequitur of an ending is meant to convey that Blanchett’s character will still remain in the realm of music, but she’s been sidelined into a career of near anonymity.
What say you then of Arnie Roth, the spirited conductor headlining the Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth orchestral performance, who peppers his speech with gamer jokes? Video games feel front and center to the action, in heralding in 2025, at the Rebirth concert in Carnegie Hall on a freezing New York night, where attendees dressed as Aerith or Sephiroth.
