Film Festivals are often known for discovering great filmmakers. Quentin Tarantino’s feature film debut, Reservoir Dogs, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. The same could be said about Kevin Smith with Clerks and Damien Chazelle with Whiplash.
Like Sundance, the Venice Film Festival has had a long history of launching the careers of filmmakers, including the great Christopher Nolan. And now, in 2024, the festival can proudly add Brady Corbet to that list. While The Brutalist might be Corbet’s third feature-length film, all three of his directorial efforts have premiered at the festival, including his debut feature, The Childhood of a Leader, which took home awards for Best Debut and Best Director from the fest.
Written by Corbet and his long-time partner, Mona Fastvold, The Brutalist follows László Tóth (Adrien Broady), a Hungarian-born Jewish architect, who after surviving the Holocaust, makes his way to America to live out the American Dream. His story is broken into two acts and takes place over a thirty-year period.
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The Brutalist is a special film because it perfectly encapsulates the saying, “They just don’t make movies like this anymore.” Now, let me be clear: I don’t mean that in the same way that comedies nowadays are not the same as the comedies that I grew up with in the 80s and 90s but rather the type of movie that The Brutalist ultimately is. This is an American epic. The work of a true auteur. It is a film that will end up being part of film history and will be read about in books for generations to come. That is The Brutalist.
Corbet, who shot the film using VistaVision and on 35mm film stock, showcases tremendous skill and an eye for detail. His direction, combined with the film’s remarkable cinematography, are the first things that will stand out when you watch this film. Lol Crawley’s cinematography will make your jaw drop. It is absolutely stunning to look at.
The entire film looks and feels like it was shot in the 1950s. This is quite the accomplishment because while countless films have the visual aesthetic of say a 70s film, they rarely feel as though they were shot during that time period. This is one of the reasons why multiple reviews for this film have compared Corbet to cinema greats like Coppola, Spielberg, and Paul Thomas Anderson.
Adrien Brody delivers what I believe to be the finest work of his career. I realize this is a bold statement, given that Brody is an actor who has delivered one incredible performance after another when involved with superior projects. His Oscar win for The Pianist was undoubtedly deserved, and while I am not entirely certain, given the current political climate, that Brody will win a second one for this film, this performance demands to be recognized and, at the very least, should receive multiple award nominations including an Oscar.
What Brody brings to the role of László Tóth is raw emotion, authenticity, and humanity. This is a man who, after being separated from his family and placed in a concentration camp, has arrived in America with optimism and hope. His journey continues to be an ongoing struggle as he faces discrimination and poverty and becomes reliant on drugs to function in his day-to-day life. Even after getting his big break, which was being hired by Harrison Lee Van Buren (Guy Pearce) to develop a community center in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, László is still faced with daily obstacles and can never find true happiness.
Despite having a few noteworthy performances over the past two decades, Guy Pearce has not really maintained a strong presence as a major star in Hollywood. I do hope that his performance as Harrison Lee Van Buren will change that. Similar to Brody, this is easily his best work since Memento, and he deserves to be part of the supporting actor conversation this awards season.
Pearce brings such complexity to the role of Harrison Lee Van Buren. When we, the viewers, are first introduced to his character, Harrison comes across as very aggressive and argumentative. However, the following interaction between him and László is quite different. Throughout the film, the relationship dynamic between these two characters continues to be compelling. Harrison appears to be a great admirer of László’s work and wants him to succeed, yet he consistently throws obstacles in his way. The level of betrayal that is ultimately shown is one that I didn’t see coming and was quite difficult to watch unfold.
László’s wife Erzsébet, played by Felicity Jones, does a pivotal role in the story, however, I do wish that her character had more to do. Despite the limited screen time, Jones is quite good and does get one of the film’s best moments, which involves her character confronting Harrison about what he did to her husband.
Given the amount of time in act one spent talking about Erzsébet and her niece Zsofia (Raffey Cassidy), I was a bit taken aback by how little these two characters were in the movie. They are both mentioned repeatedly through audio clips, letters, and conversations, yet when it came to their characters actually being shown, they felt way too secondary.
This brings me to my second issue with the film: the two-act structure. The first act felt like everything was stretched out with so much detail. In contrast, the second act felt rushed despite so much more happening during it. This brings me to my biggest issue with the film, which is the runtime.
I know filmmakers should have the creative freedom to tell the story they want to tell no matter how long it takes but that doesn’t always make for the best final product. At 3 hours and 20 minutes, not including the 15-minute intermission, I could easily see how the first act could be cut by at least 20 minutes, and the film still be as effective as it is currently. In fact, I wish those 20 minutes from the first act had been shaved off so that elements in the second half could have been fleshed out more, like the stories with Erzsébet and Zsofia. This would have made the film feel more balanced overall.
However, despite these minor shortcomings, The Brutalist is a meticulously crafted work of art that will be discussed in much depth over the next several months and beyond. Brody has made his mark on cinema and has become a filmmaker that audiences will be excited to watch as his career continues to grow and unfold. The Brutalist is a work of cinematic brilliance.
Scott Menzel’s rating for The Brutalist is a 9 out of 10.
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