Jeremiah Zagar gives troubled families time to seem like people rather than plot devices. We value his patience with actors, though Task shows how readily that patience can become a drag on the drama.
Fi1m perspective
In Task (2025), the family troubles surrounding Mark Ruffalo and Tom Pelphrey get time to matter before the investigation gathers pace. Jeremiah Zagar gives actors room to establish those tensions, even when the crime story needs to get moving. We value that care, but the series asks for more patience than it consistently rewards. Zagar directed four episodes of Brad Ingelsby's crime drama, including the premiere and finale, so he deserves neither all the credit nor all the blame. His strengths and limitations are nevertheless easy to recognise here.
His beginnings in documentaries, including In a Dream (2008), are a useful clue to that patience. We the Animals (2018), his narrative feature debut, adapted Justin Torres's novel, with natural performances from its young actors among its strengths. Zagar's practice of staying physically close to performers during filming fits this interest in emotional intimacy. Hustle (2022) took him into a Philadelphia basketball drama with Adam Sandler, bringing documentary methods to the sports sequences. The move into a larger production did not require him to discard his earlier habits.
Task puts those habits to a sterner test because the family scenes must also help sustain a crime series. Zagar and Salli Richardson-Whitfield give the supporting ensemble enough space to prevent the drama shrinking to a contest between Ruffalo and Pelphrey. Keith P. Cunningham's production design supplies a credible, lived-in setting for those domestic tensions. We cared about the families, which made the long wait for the investigation to gather pace more frustrating. With so little humour, there is also less relief between one unhappy household and the next.
Elie Smolkin and Alex Disenhof's cinematography reinforces the sombre mood of Task, and its consistency becomes wearing. The actors have done enough to earn a little relief from all that seriousness. We would welcome a brisker story that still allowed Zagar to spend time with the supporting cast. Choose Task for the families, and be prepared to wait for the investigation.
Biography
Jeremiah Zagar is an American film and television director. He grew up in South Philadelphia and made his first documentary, In a Dream (2008), about his father, the mosaic artist Isaiah Zagar.
Zagar's narrative feature debut We the Animals (2018), adapted from the novel by Justin Torres, premiered at Sundance and received five Independent Spirit Award nominations. He followed it with the Adam Sandler sports drama Hustle (2022).
In 2025 he directed four episodes of the HBO series Task, created by Brad Ingelsby, and served as an executive producer on the show.
