December 18, 2024
FILM: THE BRUTALIST
DIRECTED BY: BRADY CORBET
STARRING: ADRIEN BRODY, GUY PEARCE, FELICITY JONES
RATING: 3 ½ out of 4 stars
By Dan Pal
The Brutalist, from writer/director Brady Corbet is a cynical portrait of the American Dream just after World War II. Adrien Brody stars as Laszlo Toth, a Jewish Hungarian who, at the start of the film, is released from a concentration camp. He heads to America to work with his cousin Attila (Alessandro Nivola) who owns a small furniture store. Soon Laszlo finds himself designing a study for the very rich Harrison Lee Van Buren, played by Guy Pearce. Their connection leads to success, obsession, and some serious personal disappointments. Clocking in at three and a half hours, including a fifteen-minute intermission, the film is one of this year’s big Oscar contenders. For some, it’s a real crowd-pleaser. However, it may also be a bit divisive given the length and changing tone at various points in the film. I have to admit to have scratched my head a few times during and after the screening I attended wondering just what to make of it.
There’s no question that Corbet is interested in exploring not only the American Dream but how immigrants were used to make others’ dreams come alive, only to be cast aside when no longer needed. The Brutalist plays with this idea from a couple of different angles. Laszlo’s skill is that of an architect who specializes in a style called brutalism, which had its heyday in the 1940s and 50s and featured big blocky shapes that were often massive in size and scale. Van Buren has lofty ideas to build a structure that includes, among other things, a gymnasium, a church, and a swimming pool. (Ironically, he doesn’t swim.) Both characters are representative of those larger than life characters we’ve seen in films before such as Citizen Kane and There Will Be Blood. They are obsessive and ultimately very visibly frustrated and take their anger out on others when things don’t go their way. Several shots of long roads and corridors metaphorically suggest the concentrated and tunnel vision these men have throughout their journeys.
Adrien Brody nails every ounce of who Laszlo is. Some may compare this performance to his Oscar-winning turn in The Pianist over twenty years ago. But this is a man who has already survived and is now dealing with the twists and turns of a complicated American business system. Brody covers the gamut of emotions Laszlo experiences throughout the narrative. It’s a finely modulated performance that never goes over the top. Pearce has a few big showy moments in the film but his great contribution here is how well he captures Van Buren’s eccentricities and often very humorous one-liners. It’s unlike anything we’ve seen Pearce (L.A. Confidential, Memento, Mildred Pierce) do before. He steals every scene he’s in and the audience I saw this with roared with laughter at his twisted perspective. These are Oscar-caliber performances without question.
Tonally the film’s two halves vary somewhat. The first half, which sets up the business relationship between these two characters, doesn’t really have any major emotional swings. The narrative plods along at a fairly brisk pace. The second half, which introduces Laszlo’s wife Erzsebet, played by a very good Felicity Jones, becomes much more chaotic in various ways. At times, it feels that plot is meandering a bit much with at least one shocking scene that does connect to the film’s larger themes.
Some of the other great technical features of the film are the long, complex, extended takes, which must have been a bear to choreograph. They’re quite impressive though for a relatively low budgeted film (under 9 million.) One might expect that a film of this scale might be edited with more flash but it is to Corbet’s credit that we don’t get distracted by a lot of visual stimulation so viewers can focus on the story’s many details. The score is also quite impressive and never intrusive.
From the opening, blocky angled, Brutalist style credits to the narrative’s epilogue, this is a film that plays a bit like an epic American story, which it is. However, there is something smaller scale about it that might make it more relatable to some. I recommend seeing it on as large a screen as you can. Since the main focus is on architecture, size, and big dreams, it needs that experience to be fully appreciated.
In the end, I’d say it’s not a perfect film and I’m not sure how quickly I’d want to run to see it again, except for maybe those performances and some of the sets. It is a cynical film and it does remind us that single-minded obsessive men might eventually ruin us all.
The Brutalist is opening in very limited theatrical release this week with a wider roll out in January.
FILM: THE BRUTALIST
DIRECTED BY: BRADY CORBET
STARRING: ADRIEN BRODY, GUY PEARCE, FELICITY JONES
RATING: 3 ½ out of 4 stars
By Dan Pal
The Brutalist, from writer/director Brady Corbet is a cynical portrait of the American Dream just after World War II. Adrien Brody stars as Laszlo Toth, a Jewish Hungarian who, at the start of the film, is released from a concentration camp. He heads to America to work with his cousin Attila (Alessandro Nivola) who owns a small furniture store. Soon Laszlo finds himself designing a study for the very rich Harrison Lee Van Buren, played by Guy Pearce. Their connection leads to success, obsession, and some serious personal disappointments. Clocking in at three and a half hours, including a fifteen-minute intermission, the film is one of this year’s big Oscar contenders. For some, it’s a real crowd-pleaser. However, it may also be a bit divisive given the length and changing tone at various points in the film. I have to admit to have scratched my head a few times during and after the screening I attended wondering just what to make of it.
There’s no question that Corbet is interested in exploring not only the American Dream but how immigrants were used to make others’ dreams come alive, only to be cast aside when no longer needed. The Brutalist plays with this idea from a couple of different angles. Laszlo’s skill is that of an architect who specializes in a style called brutalism, which had its heyday in the 1940s and 50s and featured big blocky shapes that were often massive in size and scale. Van Buren has lofty ideas to build a structure that includes, among other things, a gymnasium, a church, and a swimming pool. (Ironically, he doesn’t swim.) Both characters are representative of those larger than life characters we’ve seen in films before such as Citizen Kane and There Will Be Blood. They are obsessive and ultimately very visibly frustrated and take their anger out on others when things don’t go their way. Several shots of long roads and corridors metaphorically suggest the concentrated and tunnel vision these men have throughout their journeys.
Adrien Brody nails every ounce of who Laszlo is. Some may compare this performance to his Oscar-winning turn in The Pianist over twenty years ago. But this is a man who has already survived and is now dealing with the twists and turns of a complicated American business system. Brody covers the gamut of emotions Laszlo experiences throughout the narrative. It’s a finely modulated performance that never goes over the top. Pearce has a few big showy moments in the film but his great contribution here is how well he captures Van Buren’s eccentricities and often very humorous one-liners. It’s unlike anything we’ve seen Pearce (L.A. Confidential, Memento, Mildred Pierce) do before. He steals every scene he’s in and the audience I saw this with roared with laughter at his twisted perspective. These are Oscar-caliber performances without question.
Tonally the film’s two halves vary somewhat. The first half, which sets up the business relationship between these two characters, doesn’t really have any major emotional swings. The narrative plods along at a fairly brisk pace. The second half, which introduces Laszlo’s wife Erzsebet, played by a very good Felicity Jones, becomes much more chaotic in various ways. At times, it feels that plot is meandering a bit much with at least one shocking scene that does connect to the film’s larger themes.
Some of the other great technical features of the film are the long, complex, extended takes, which must have been a bear to choreograph. They’re quite impressive though for a relatively low budgeted film (under 9 million.) One might expect that a film of this scale might be edited with more flash but it is to Corbet’s credit that we don’t get distracted by a lot of visual stimulation so viewers can focus on the story’s many details. The score is also quite impressive and never intrusive.
From the opening, blocky angled, Brutalist style credits to the narrative’s epilogue, this is a film that plays a bit like an epic American story, which it is. However, there is something smaller scale about it that might make it more relatable to some. I recommend seeing it on as large a screen as you can. Since the main focus is on architecture, size, and big dreams, it needs that experience to be fully appreciated.
In the end, I’d say it’s not a perfect film and I’m not sure how quickly I’d want to run to see it again, except for maybe those performances and some of the sets. It is a cynical film and it does remind us that single-minded obsessive men might eventually ruin us all.
The Brutalist is opening in very limited theatrical release this week with a wider roll out in January.