The Brutalist (2024)

Brady Corbet (Vox Lux) has directed a three and a half hour sprawling tale of a Jewish architect named Laszlo (Adrian Brody) who has escaped religious persecution in World War II Europe to come to America.  This epic drama kicks off with him arriving at Ellis Island in epic fashion, then restarting his career in Pennsylvania where he encounters a local industrialist named Van Buren (Guy Pearce) who hires him to take on increasingly larger projects.  Complications ensue as Laszlo achieves success but also struggles to adapt to an environment which can often be hostile to him, even more-so after his wife Erzsebet (Felicity Jones) is finally able to emigrate from Europe to join him.  Since being screened throughout the festival circuit last year (initially without a distributor), this film has received wide acclaim.  It has also recently received ten Oscar nominations including for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actress, and Best Supporting Actor.  But is it WORTHY of such acclaim?    

Host & Editor: Geoff Gershon
Producer: Marlene Gershon

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Transcript

THE BRUTALIST - 2024

Directed by Brady Corbet

Starring Adrian Brody, Felicity Jones, Guy Pearce, Joe Alwyn, Stacy Martin, Raffey Cassidy, Isaach de Bankole, Emma Laird, and Alessandro Nivola

Genre: Historical Drama (Audio clip)

I left the theater seeing this both jazzed and a bit confounded. It's all gorgeously shot, performed, and very well-paced to the point where you don't really feel the 210 minute runtime - there's a 15 minute intermission in the middle which was also a DELIGHT to have. :) For the first hour or so, I was fairly confident as to where the overall story of recently emigrated wunderkind architect Laszlo Toth (Adrian Brody, delivering possibly THE Best Smoking Performance since Sharon Stone in Basic Instinct) was going....

And I was SO wrong as director Brady Corbet (and co-writer Mona Fastvold) just keeps throwing you curveballs as this seemingly conventional story of the rise (and fall? 🤔) of a brilliant Hungarian Jewish architect adapting to life in post-WWII America progresses towards its unconventional conclusion. For one thing, even though this has been frequently described (and hyped) as a 21st Century reinvention of an old-school "EPIC"....I found that personally to be a bit of a mischaracterization. There are maybe about seven or eight notable characters in total with us the audience only really getting to know about three of them....and you COULD even make a case that there's a decent amount left unresolved about those three. 🤨

The overall scale of what transpires on-screen is also surprisingly small...the main thrust of the narrative is basically the design and construction of new buildings in Pennsylvania in the architectural style of Brutalism. A style which I can admit is actually more cinematic than I would have thought...me admittedly being a architectural layman of course. The whole examination of what type of individual you would have to be to 100% devote yourself towards the creation of such stark, unromantic, even often oppresive-seeming structures....well it's all there in Brody's sterling performance. (Including the smoking) He escaped religious persecution from World War II Europe and is acutely aware off the bat of how "foreign" he can come off to the white-bread '50's Protestant Americans he finds himself surrounded by.

This instills a constant paranoia in Laszlo which is just further exacerbated by the continuous prodding he receives from the wealthy upper-crust benefactor who hires him to design and build structures - initially on a lark - and that would be the grandiose, mustachioed Van Buren played with rip-roaring delight by Guy Pearce in this film's second best performance! Genuine tension comes from the pressure Laszlo feels from Van Buren (among others) to integrate into this 1950's society vs the vision he is continuously striving to achieve as a so-called "Brutalist." Cold, minimalist, angular.....his genius comes from how adeptly he creates that aesthetic and it's his adherence to it as a mindset which has helped him survive a lot of brutal (pun intended) atrocities back in his homeland. So a central question of the movie becomes: how do you compromise the ONE thing which has helped you escape persecution? The answer of course is not particularly simple nor straightforward....

I'm not even sure if this movie tries to answer it though the closest it comes is mainly through a THIRD character of importance....and that would be Laszlo's beleaguered, sickly wife Erzsebet played by Felicity Jones in what I believe might be this film's trickiest performance. We don't even really meet her character until half-way through as she was still trapped in Europe with their niece but her presence does loom over the story in some unexpected ways. I've never been a particularly big fan of Felicity as an actress but I have to say that I found her very compelling here. Erzsebet is more worldly than her husband, better at relating to Americans, and as a result her character becomes sort of bridge between Laszlo and Van Buren in interesting. Their marriage is undoubtedly tested as she is confined to a wheelchair, often in pain and this creates strain in their relationship....though not completely in the ways you would expect.

Farbeit from me to spoil too much but lust, desire, and even sex as a weapon of power become increasingly prevalent in this story....and I have to give props to Brady and crew for presenting it to the audience in a natural, matter-of-fact manner which never feels awkward in the context of the story. There's a comfort level portraying it as a natural extension of these characters on-screen which caught me off-guard by just how well it compares to most other modern epics from some of our finest fimmakers. (Spielberg, Munich....Oppenheimer any one? 😄)

I also loved the use of locations in this story and how spatial relations are presented. There's not as much runtime devoted to montages of things being constructed but what's shown is pretty thrilling to watch! Corbet (with DP Lol Crowley) has a great eye and that comes through via several genuinely dazzling setpieces including the now deservedly praised opening sequence which has Laszlo first arriving to Ellis Island and seeing the Statue of Liberty from an unconventional angle. 🙃 (Also shown in much of the marketing for this film.) 

Best Needle drop (best song cue or score used throughout runtime of film): 

Oh have I NOT mentioned the music as of yet?  Kind of crazy because this film has a propulsive, almost kitchen-sink sounding orchestral score which becomes a character in of itself….it’s emotional, rousing, bombastic, SO much hyperbole can be used to describe it because it’s just that kind of score!  And it grabs from you the get-go with that aforementioned opening sequence as Lazlo arrives at Ellis Island….all poorly-lit chaos as the camera follows him excitedly trying to go outside once the boat arrives.  As this music kicks off the movie, it’s fittingly called “Overture.” (Audio clip)   

And when I say kitchen-sink….yeah the score is mainly piano, horns, and some strings but also thrown in is SO much more including various industrial equipment, the insides of a piano, and even gun-shots.  It all perfectly matches both the unpredictable nature and the overall “fish-out-of-water” narrative of the movie.  It manages to sound both hopeful AND melancholy at the same time if that’s even possible.  And for me, the overall musical highlight would have to be the ramped up build-up we hear RIGHT around the midpoint of the movie, roughly 85 minutes in…..frenetic camera movement to show how progress is being made on the construction of this community center as we also hear narration from Erzsebet…she’s on her way to the states, we’re getting excited…and then BOOM….intermission kicks in!  This track is called “Steel.” (Audio clip)  

Wasted Talent (most under-utilized talent involved with film):

The overall messaging of the film is not particularly subtle - much of it related to the continuous tension between art and commerce - but it does eventually culminate in a bravura ending which I THINK works overall but I would be lying if I didn't admit that I had to listen to at least one or two video reviews afterwards to fully grasp exactly what was said. 🙄 Corbet, Fastvold, and crew are definitely taking some big swings here and I'm not sure if all of them land in the most effective manner. After one just one viewing, I don't think the conclusion landed for me in a way that was particularly satisfying or even emotionally engaging....just clever if nothing else. 🤔

In that way, this film very much reminded me of Tar....another long, challenging film for ADULTS harmed slightly with a tricky ending but with so much brilliance up until that point that it simply cannot be dismissed.

Trailer Moment (scene or moment that best describes this movie):

For me, THE most visually arresting sequence in the film occurs just over two hours in.  After having left Harrison’s employ for several years now working at a firm in NYC as a drafter, Laszlo has been courted to work once again for Harrison.  Laszlo has them both travel to Italy to find a special type of marble to complete the project for Harrison….luna marble and it’s up in a mountain range in the Tuscany just outside the town of Carrara.  What results is a GORGEOUS side trip to these marble mountains with Laszlo, Harrison, and Laszlo’s old local friend Orazio played by Salvatore Sansone in a natural, warm performance.  

Even though not much actually happens during this sequence which goes on for about ten minutes, it’s still quite memorable from a sensory standpoint: the views of these starkly white mountains are breathtaking, the sound design as they hike within them is quite distinctive with a lot of natural echoing, the horn-filled score really kicks it up a notch, and…..we even see one character lovingly hold his face up against the rock….everything about this sequence is both comforting and a bit awe-inspiring.  It’s a highpoint for me not only for the sensory aspect of it but it represents a KEY turning point for the story as what occurs in the very next scene takes things in a significantly DARKER direction….I’ll just leave it that.  

MVP (person most responsible for the success of this film):

This one might seem like a tough call but for me it’s honestly not….the direction is mostly impeccable, the cast is FANTASTIC especially Adrian Brody who might be giving a career-best performance, the film LOOKS amazing, and the writing overall is pretty strong.  However, the one aspect of this film which has lingered with the most IS the music, it just is.  I can see this film COMPLETELY falling apart and possibly even feeling like much of a slog if it didn’t have this INSPIRE score. (Audio clip) 

And that score was crafted by a relative newcomer to the film composing trade.  He’s only done this for a few years with a few films under his belt since 2018…and before that, he played for a few select indie bands in the UK.  His sound can certainly be described as experimental….or another term, slowcore.  I don’t know how to best describe it but no matter because this London-born composer has crafted a truly unique soundscape for this film which could very well become its most lasting legacy.  Therefore the MVP is the BRILLIAN Daniel Blumberg….and I can’t wait to hear what he does next!

Final Rating: 4.25 stars out of 5

Whether this can yet be classified as a modern masterpiece (as several critics are doing right now) remains to be seen. But it was definitely one of the best films from 2024, I would NOT be disappointed if it wins several Oscars, and I would sure be interested in seeing it again to find out....

Now Playing in Theaters

And that ends another MODERNIST review!