“The Brutalist” tears down the monument of American idealism.
“The Brutalist” tears down the monument of American idealism.
Content warning: Substance abuse, sexual assault
“The Brutalist” breaks down the American dream brick by brick.
Co-written by Mona Fastvold and directed by Brady Corbet, “The Brutalist” follows Hungarian architect László Tóth as he builds a name for himself as an immigrant in post-war Philadelphia.
The three-and-a-half-hour drama, whose runtime includes a 15-minute intermission, is an immersive viewing experience. Split into two halves, the film’s first act artfully embraces upward mobility as László rises in esteem and wealth. The second half, however, subverts his idyllic circumstances by uncovering the perverted vanity behind his sponsors.
Adrien Brody as László is the film’s weighty centerpiece. A Holocaust survivor wracked by agony, Brody (“The Pianist,” “The Grand Budapest Hotel”) solemnly conveys László’s detached state of mind as he copes with heroin and sex.
His downtrodden start renews itself when affluent entrepreneur Harrison Lee Van Buren Sr. hires László to build a community center on his estate. Granting László shelter and help getting his family to the U.S., Van Buren rains luxury on his immigrant guests to curry public favor.
Act one ends with the center’s construction underway, and act two follows the project’s stagnation, with László reverting deeper into depression and Van Buren’s snares.
Corbet (“Vox Lux,” “The Crowded Room”) directs both acts with intimacy and scope. Shooting “The Brutalist” on VistaVision for 70mm print — the same used in Alfred Hitchcock’s “North by Northwest” — results in a modern film with the granular detail of a ‘50s epic.
Claustrophobic close-ups box the viewer into László’s trapped mindset. Yet with equal deft, the camera captures sweeping wide shots of Philadelphia landscapes and the buildings inhabiting them.
As the title implies, brutalist architecture represents the film’s thesis of endurance. László’s minimalistic, concrete structures in Europe outlast the bombs of World War II, while in Philadelphia his contracted construction becomes a monument to his pain.
Guy Pearce as Van Buren begins the film as an amiable, if not naive benefactor for László’s craft. Yet as the minutes tick away, Van Buren reveals his twisted aims of manipulating László in a self-serving drive for control.
Pearce (“Memento,” “The Hurt Locker”) flips on a dime between harmless affability and sinister cruelty. His portrayal of Van Buren encapsulates those who pat themselves on the back for performative, self-serving deeds.
Falling between László’s dejection and Van Buren’s vanity is László’s wife, Erzsébet Tóth. Played by Felicity Jones, Erzsébet is a Holocaust survivor disabled by famine who resolves to maintain a humble journalism career.
In spite of her trauma, Erzsébet persists optimistically. Her self-sufficiency seems to convey the message that nativist aristocrats don’t define the lives of those deemed foreign.
Across its breadth of runtime,“The Brutalist” turns over the seedy underbelly of America’s immigrant experience. Despite the film opening with the symbolic Statue of Liberty — barriers of class, race and religion persist to revert people into tools.
Last year’s Academy award contenders “Oppenheimer” and “Killers of the Flower Moon” reached similar runtimes, but “The Brutalist” is more methodical in its pacing, but for some may drag its feet in its commitment to craftsmanship.
Despite its affective atmosphere, the film relays its themes bluntly. From scaling architectural designs to a sexual assault that unravels the film’s final moments, every aspect corresponds to Corbet’s thesis of pain tying to power and prejudice
Filmed over just a month on a $33 million budget, “The Brutalist” is a directorial feat. Yet its commitment to detail has raised ethical shortcomings, with AI used to perfect the film’s Hungarian dialect and produce architectural designs.
As generative software encroaches the film industry, utilizing it to polish pre-existing work looks to be the new standard. However, using AI to create designs wholesale tarnishes the credibility of a film centered around the humanity conveyed through art.
Despite this, the gravity of the film’s performances are matched by the expertise of its production. Though its long-winded nature may leave audiences needing a bathroom break, “The Brutalist” weaves between themes with intention, cementing an impressive moviegoing experience.
Like László’s work, “The Brutalist” stands as a pillar to personal artistry.
“The Brutalist,” rated R, is in theaters now.
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