2024 ‧ Drama‧ 215m
Adrien Brody stars in Brady Corbet’s epic about an immigrant architect coming to America, reuniting with his wife, and rebuilding his life after World War II.
Told in two parts, with a built-in intermission, Brody stars as László Tóth, a holocaust survivor from Budapest who is coming to America to live with his cousin in Philadelphia. He had been separated from his wife and niece during the war and suspects they are dead. When he arrives in Philadelphia, his cousin gives him a letter from his wife, proving they are still alive. The plan is they will eventually come to America as well. László needs to find his footing in his new country. He works in his cousin’s furniture shop, through that he gets a job designing the library of Harrison Lee Van Buren, a wealthy industrialist played by Guy Pearce. At first the Harrison is unhappy, but in time sees the beauty of the work and wants to hire László for a community center project. With this new connection to wealth, László can now figure out how to get his wife and niece to the states. The second part of the film focuses on their reunion and the building of the community center. Corbet creates an interesting story looking at class, immigrant plight, and the desire to create something.
It is rare to see this kind of cinematic ambition these days. The two-part structure, VistaVision, and the intermission, give The Brutalist a feeling like the American epics of the era portrayed. A grandiose spectacle, that is somehow endearing instead of pretentious. Corbet and cinematographer Lol Crawley use the VistaVision framing superbly and the composition of shots are some of the best in years. The production design captures the look and color of the era quite hauntingly. Such lovely mid-century greens. Daniel Blumberg’s score expertly goes from subtle to grand and back. Brody’s performance as László is deserving of all the attention and Guy Pearce gives a nuanced performance to a larger than life character. Felicity Jones may be the MVP of the cast as Erzsébet, László's wife. She only acts in voice over for the first part of the 3 and-a-half hour epic, but she is still a presence that sticks with the viewer, mirroring her effect on László.
If there is any lesson one hopes comes out of The Brutalist, it is directors and studios should consider more built-in intermissions. Especially if we are not going to try and economize duration and keep having more and more films over two-and-a-half hours.
Despite the length, the film does not feel like it drags, though the intermission probably helps. Around the 3 hour mark, however, is when things start to dip. Without going into spoilers, the story goes somewhere that although is in-character and makes sense, it also lacks any nuance and subtlety. Two traits that were quite strong in this film about immigration and the American dream. It does not sink the entire experience; the highs are much more than its lowest low.
In the end, The Brutalist seems a flawed masterpiece. A wonderous cinema-experience that wobbles on landing.
Grade: B+
~Andrew