THE STORY – When visionary architect László Toth and his wife Erzsébet flee post-war Europe in 1947 to rebuild their legacy and witness the birth of modern America, their lives are changed forever by a mysterious and wealthy client.
THE CAST – Adrien Brody, Felicity Jones, Guy Pearce, Joe Alwyn, Raffey Cassidy, Stacy Martin, Emma Laird, Isaach De Bankolé & Alessandro Nivola
THE TEAM – Brady Corbet (Director/Writer) & Mona Fastvold (Writer)
THE RUNNING TIME – 215 Minutes
If there’s one thing you can expect from director Brady Corbet, it’s that he’ll deliver something unexpected with his films. With “Vox Lux,” he managed to tell a story of a young girl surviving a school shooting and becoming a pop star in the process, two seemingly different ideas that somehow ended up creating a musical experience that has left a lasting impression. Six years later, Corbet returns to the big screen with “The Brutalist,” a sweeping epic that details the many highs and lows of a visionary Hungarian architect, László Toth, who’s after his own slice of the American Dream post-World War II. It’s one of those films unlike anything you’ll see this year and a kind of story that doesn’t get made anymore (reminiscent of “Lawrence of Arabia” with its 3 ½-hour runtime, including an intermission). Corbet takes big swings with most of them paying off significantly, with stellar performances from Adrien Brody and Guy Pearce, as well as immensely inspiring editing and breathtaking cinematography. Specific storyline shifts muddle the flow, but there’s no doubt “The Brutalist” will leave a lasting impression.
Split into two acts and an epilogue, there’s almost too much to talk about with this film, given how much time Corbet and co-writer Mona Fastvold have to work with, and they fully use every minute. But the opening sequence stands out above the rest, hands down the best one of the year. There’s a controlled and chaotic nature to “The Brutalist,” and Corbet doesn’t give audiences any time to prepare for it. A young girl named Zsofia (Raffey Cassidy) is being questioned by someone off-screen, while elsewhere, László (Brody, sporting a convincing accent and delivery of the Hungarian language) is frantically gathering his things and on the move. A rhythmic, ominous score swells in the background as hectic images of László’s journey fill the screen. On top of all that, the voice of his wife, Erzébet Toth (Felicity Jones), is heard reading a letter detailing her and her niece Zsofia’s whereabouts. There’s so much happening that your mind doesn’t know what bits of information to take in or how to make sense of all the scenery changes, but it’s exciting to try to process. Once an upside-down shot of the Statue of Liberty flashes on screen, we know we’ve made it, and the true journey has only just begun.
László is optimistic once he arrives in America, specifically settling in Pennsylvania where his cousin Attila (Alessandro Nivola), who has already Americanized his last name, and wife (Emma Laird) live and own a furniture business. Once he learns that his wife Erzébet is alive too — they were forcefully separated after being taken to concentration camps — he does what he can to help her and his niece immigrate. It’s great to see Brody, a fantastic character actor, back in a role that allows him to take the full spotlight and remind us of his immense talents. Similar to his Oscar-winning performance in the Holocaust drama, “The Pianist,” he brings to life a man with a rich life who desires to be reunited with his family, even though he doesn’t know how to make it happen. And it’ll undoubtedly take some time as his American Dream isn’t the glamorous vision many have. Congested buses, long lines at food banks, sleeping in cramped quarters, and utilizing drugs for his injuries are his norm. By contrast, the film juxtaposes an audio detailing the formation of the state of Israel, a place that promises to serve as a mecca for Jewish people.
With his line of work, his specialty is brutalist architecture, characterized by exposed concrete and angular geometric shapes that create towering shadows and lines. His first opportunity to build a name for himself in the new country comes when Harry Lee Van Buren (Joe Alwyn), the son of an important attorney, asks László and Attila to turn his father’s study into a library. We get to see the master at work, figuring out the dimensions and costs of the project in his head and by doing anything but traditional styles when designing bookshelves. Cinematographer Lol Crawley similarly takes immense pride in capturing all the angles and natural light filtering through the space. It all comes as an unwelcome surprise for patriarch Harrison (Guy Pearce), who bursts onto the scene full of rage to make an unforgettable impression on László.
However, once Harrison realizes the genius of the work — which László speaks about so poetically — he recruits him to create a grand community center in a small Pennsylvania town. It starts a complex relationship between them, filled with intellectually stimulating conversations, outbursts, and betrayals. As wonderful as Brody’s performance is in this film, Pearce is the highlight in every scene. He’s given far more humorous moments than one would expect in a film of this nature, all while also nailing his character’s bracing qualities. But it all feels a little too good to be true. Along with his abrasive son — a performance that gives Alwyn room to do way more with his screen time compared to his limited stints in Yorgos Lanthimos’ projects — you’re never sure when things may go terribly wrong for László.
Even though Act I is the length of a normal feature-length film, its invigorating editing and visuals, powerful musical moments, and outstanding performances keep one’s attention that one will be eager to dive back into what lies ahead. Corbet and Fastvold do an impeccable job of laying all the puzzle pieces before us and slowly assembling them to form this highly engaging film.
Act II brings more additions to an already grand story. In particular, there’s quite a big vibe shift at one point, which begins to muddle the otherwise cohesive structure – very reminiscent of the second half of “Vox Lux,” Corbet and Fastvold’s previous collaboration. A wheelchair-bound Erzsébet and mute Zsofia finally arrive and begin to carve their own journeys in the United States while witnessing László unravel at the seams from all the stress construction brings him. Brody gets to flex his acting muscles even more in this section as he obsessively thinks about every detail of his project and spends hours at the site, all aided by a frenzied jazz score that amplifies the rage inside him. He also gets some welcome comedic moments as he fights with architects on the construction site. But things are getting quite sloppy for the otherwise level-headed architect, whose drug use is beginning to have nearly devastating effects on him and his loved ones, and the Van Burens are not afraid to show their true colors toward him. “We tolerate you,” son Harry says to him at one point, and that’s certainly not an easy sentiment to bounce back from.
There’s not much of an emphasis on Erzsébet’s story. However, she is given more to do than the typical “devoted wife character” — she’s a women’s lifestyle columnist at a newspaper in New York, a substantial step down from previously covering political affairs back home. Jones delivers it all in great strides, carving a place for Erzsébet in this new world and showing others she’s no feeble woman. On the other hand, Cassidy takes on a much smaller role than her “Vox Lux” one.
Once again, the second act feels like it flies by, but the shifts in the story, particularly a “what just happened” moment between two characters, prevent it from being quite as strong as the first half. The resolution, if it can even be called that, is so odd and leaves viewers feeling even more confused.
But considering “The Brutalist” as a whole, it’s an astonishing feat for Corbet and places him among our most exciting working directors today. There’s no denying this film will be a major awards player – hopefully receiving nominations for acting, editing, technical achievements, and picture categories. If this is what an extended break looks like for Corbet, he can take all the time in the world with his next film, as long as it promises to be as exciting, grand, and unique as this one.
