Film review: ‘THE BRUTALIST’ by Nick Gardener from ‘Built For Speed’
Writer/director Brady Corbet’s (Vox Lux) The Brutalist is a monumental, expertly crafted and fascinating exploration of architecture, the immigrant experience, the American class system, art versus commerce and the quest to construct an identity. While it appears to have drawn inspiration from a variety of films such as The Pianist, There Will Be Blood, The Fountainhead, The Agony and Ecstasy and even Citizen Kane, this is a distinct and powerful piece of cinema unlike anything else this year.
The film is essentially a biopic of fictional Jewish-Hungarian architect Laszlo Toth (Adrien Brody) who, in the late 1940’s, having escaped the nazis and become separated from his wife Erzsebet (Felicity Jones) and niece Zsofia (Raffey Cassidy), emigrates to America. There, barely able to find work despite his illustrious background, he lives almost hand to mouth. A job with his cousin, Attila (Allesandro Nivola), however, introduces him to the uber-rich, uber-waspy industrialist Harrison Van Buren (Guy Pearce) whose wish to have Laslo build him a vast community centre dramatically alters the course of his life.
With this film Corbet pulls off the tricky feat of telling a very personal story while conveying the sweep of history. He captures the drama of Laslo’s life in New York and Philadelphia, the stress on his relationships and his growing heroin addiction while using news reports of the rapidly changing world – in particular the formation of Israel – to create a tumultuous backdrop.
In close to a career best performance Adrien Brody makes Laslo a complex, morally ambiguous character and thoroughly credible architectural visionary. He gives Laslo just the right amount of emotional volatility and restraint and captures the desperation and (mostly) repressed fury of someone enslaved economically who is trying to fit an alien culture where, as Harrison’s obnoxious son Harry (Joe Alwyn) says, Lazslo is merely ‘tolerated’.
Guy Pearce is once again wonderful, giving Van Buren a compelling mix of charisma and oiliness. He at first seems like a typical rich elitist, throwing a tantrum at Laszlo and Attila when he unexpectedly discovers them remodelling his home library. Pearce, however, convincingly imbues the character with an unsettling mix of traits: a stylish gentleman with his sharp suit and spivvy moustache, seemingly compassionate benefactor and arts patron but also bigot and predator.
While Brody and Pearce are excellent, Felicity Jones just about steals the film as Erzsebet. Even, though she’s absent for early part of the movie she’s unforgettable mixing physical frailty due to osteoporosis from deprivations in a concentration camp and a potent intellect and wit. Her unscheduled appearance at one of Van Buren’s snooty dinners is unforgettable.
Stylistically, the film often resembles a gritty drama from the 1970s but Corbet adds surreal touches including a strange atmospheric sequence at an Italian marble quarry where Laslo and Van Buren meet an anarchist and former resistance fighter before attending a bizarre drunken soirée that ends shockingly. Corbet also strikingly captures the sweeping landscapes around the Van Buren estate and depicts Laslo’s buildings in a manner that’s both stark and sumptuous.
Interestingly, the film emphasises the culture and economy of Philadelphia and its pivotal role in defining the American identity which had particular resonance at election time given its status as perhaps the critical swing state.
With the architectural works, the relationships, the drug addiction and the historical motifs, there’s alot going on in this movie and it occasionally feels cluttered, especially toward the end but these concerns only detract slightly from one of the more bold and intelligent films this year.
Nick’s rating: ****1/2
Genre: Drama/ Historical.
Classification: MA15+.
Director(s): Brady Corbet.
Release date: 23rd Jan 2025.
Running time: 215 mins.
Reviewer: Nick Gardener can be heard on “Built For Speed” every Friday night from 8-10pm on 88.3 Southern FM.