Adrien Brody in ‘The Brutalist’. Photo: A24.
Opening in limited theatrical release on December 20th, ‘The Brutalist’ seems sure to challenge notions of how long is too long, even when the writer/director in charge is the prodigiously talented Brady Corbet.
Since switching from acting to directing with 2015’s ‘The Childhood of a Leader,’ Brady Corbet has labored away on ‘Vox Lux’ and now this story of one man’s eventful voyage to America, where he strives to build a new life while falling prey to his own vices and other people’s avaricious attitudes. The question is, is there a huge audience for a movie that runs 3 hours and 45 minutes, including a 15 minute intermission?
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Will ‘The Brutalist’s Story of an Architect Build an Audience?
Adrien Brody in ‘The Brutalist’. Photo: A24.
Mimicking movies from a bygone era, Corbet’s latest features an overture and an epilogue bookending its giant two-part main runtime. There are certainly times when it all feels like an overblown exercise in experimental filmmaking, but the story and performances are strong enough to shoulder the expectations brought on by that running time.
It doesn’t hurt that it’s all built around a supremely compelling central performance from Adrien Brody and enough incident to actually fill the story, though you can certainly see chunks where Corbet might have benefitted from tightening the whole thing up. Still, it’s a remarkable achievement, and all the more impressive give that the budget was just $6 million –– compare that to ‘Joker: Folie à Deux’ which did a lot less with $190 million.
Script and Direction
(L to R) Joe Alwyn, Guy Pearce, Adrien Brody, and Felicity Jones in ‘The Brutalist’. Photo: A24.
Corbet wrote his latest with regular creative (and real-life) partner Mona Fastvold and while their screenplay swings between authentic and wildly melodramatic, it serves the movie well enough, powering the performances and creating an impressively sweeping story given the resources available.
While Brody’s central character naturally scores the lion’s share of dialogue, one or two others get the chance to shine, but it’s much more weighted towards one man’s story than building truly rounded portrayals of everyone, which few movies can attempt, even when they have the sort of mammoth running time on display here.
Corbet has certainly learned a lot from his previous directorial efforts, and he stretches those dollars impressively, blending archive footage with small intimate moments in chambers and the stark, sweeping Pennsylvania hills where Brody’s László Tóth does his celebrated work.
Cast and Performances
Brody’s is our core character through the story, but there is also room for other actors to shine in support.
Adrien Brody as László Tóth
Adrien Brody in ‘The Brutalist’. Photo: A24.
Playing the architect whose concrete-heavy work gives the film its title, Brody is predictably wonderful, showing the character’s humanity in all its various shades. A Jewish refugee from post-World War II Budapest, he arrives in the United States desperate to find his own version of the American Dream, initially indulging in all the pleasures it has to offer.
His immigrant story is far from an easy one –– initially forced to rely on the charity of relatives already established in the States, he’s then in an even worse situation, reduced to construction work and shoveling coal to make ends meet, a far cry from his heyday as an architect at home before the war.
But when he scores the patronage of a wealthy Pennsylvania magnate and learns his wife has survived the Nazis, his life is seemingly made –– if only he could avoid giving in to his own demons. This is a tour de force for Brody, who commits fully to the role and keeps you watching even as his director indulges in long stretches that try the patience.
Felicity Jones as Erzsébet Tóth
Felicity Jones in ‘The Brutalist’. Photo: A24.
Reduced to simply a voice in letters in the first half of the film, Jones is a revelation when her character properly arrives in the second. Tóth’s determined wife, sickened by her circumstances, energizes the later stages of the film and Jones is great all through her section, with one incredible scene we won’t spoil near the end.
Guy Pearce as Harrison Lee Van Buren
Guy Pearce in ‘The Brutalist’. Photo: A24.
As the flinty, shrewd businessman and property magnate, Pearce does great work with what could have been a one-note performance. He makes an impact from his first entrance, and Van Buren is a force through the movie, for both good and ill.
Supporting cast
Isaach de Bankolé in ‘The Brutalist’. Photo: A24.
One or two other parts make an impact beyond the central three –– Raffey Cassidy as the main couple’s nervy niece Zsófia is all wide-eyed, deer-in-headlights energy (which hides a spine of steel), while Isaach De Bankolé is more than simply Tóth’s best friend, a dedicated single father he meets on the Pennsylvania breadlines.
And in a smaller but pivotal part, we have Jonathan Hyde as Leslie, the project manager assigned to oversee Tóth’s big build for Van Buren, who is practically tearing his hair out working with (or for, if you see it Tóth’s way) the mercurial architect.
Final Thoughts
Adrien Brody in ‘The Brutalist’. Photo: A24.
Corbet’s meditation on immigration, survivor’s guilt, and the dangers of pursuing your personal ambitions will not be for everyone. If the idea of nearly four hours in the cinema (admittedly with a break in the middle) watching someone struggle and suffer is appealing, then ‘The Brutalist’ represents one of the best examples of the genre.
It’s ambitious, thoughtful and will likely be in the awards conversation this year.
‘The Brutalist’ receives 7 out of 10 stars.
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Fleeing from post-war Europe in 1947, a visionary architect and his wife settle in Pennsylvania where a wealthy and mysterious client changes their lives forever. Read the Plot
What’s the plot of ‘The Brutalist’?
Fleeing from post-war Europe in 1947, a visionary architect (Adrien Brody) and his wife (Felicity Jones) settle in Pennsylvania where a wealthy and mysterious client (Guy Pearce) changes their lives forever.
Who is in the cast of ‘The Brutalist’?
‘The Brutalist’. Photo: A24.
List of Brady Corbet Movies and TV Shows:
Buy Tickets: ‘The Brutalist’ Movie Showtimes
Buy Adrien Brody Movies on Amazon
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