The Brutalist – Film Review
by Frank L.

Director – Brady Corbet
Writers – Brady Corbet, Mona Fastvold
Stars – Adrien Brody, Felicity Jones, Guy Pearce

Corbet and his co-writer Mona Fastvold have fearlessly created an immigrant story set in America following the end of the Second World War. Laszlo Toth (Adrien Brody), a modernist architect of the brutalist school, is a Hungarian Jewish refugee who makes his way to the United States. His wife Erzsebet Toth (Felicity Jones) and so-called daughter Zsofia (Raffey Cassidy) are still stuck in Europe. He has a cousin called Atilla who has a store which is called “Miller and Sons” but Attila’s surname is not “Miller” and he has no sons. Laszlo is discovering a different reality in his new homeland.

Through Miller and Sons, he encounters Harry Lee Van Buren (Joe Alwyn) who hires the firm to remodel his father’s library as a surprise present for his wealthy father Harrison Van Buren (Guy Pearce) when he and his wife are away on a holiday. As Toth’s aesthetic is entirely alien to him, Harrrison’s initial reaction is one of outrage. This leads Toth to financial ruin and self-doubt as he finds out that America is not always the land of opportunity it once promised.

Corbet and Fastvold introduce many themes into the script including architecture, capitalism, immigration, and anti-semitism and also the personal strengths and weaknesses of the cast of characters which they use to describe the challenges of creating great works of architecture. It is a film on a vast scale. It has a prologue, an interval and an epilogue and it lasts approximately three and a half hours. There is a great deal to digest.

Notwithstanding its length, it is at all times absorbing. This is undoubtedly assisted by the quality of the acting of the entire cast. In this regard, Brody as Toth conveys a panoply of emotions and attributes which an immigrant of talent will experience when he grapples with the realities of what is to become his new homeland. Brody’s performance is of the first rank. However, it is matched by Pearce’s Harrison who for all his wealth craves a sense of immortality which of course his wealth on its own does not provide. In addition to the acting, the cinematography and the powerful musical score all add to a cinematic experience which is engrossing.

The Brutalist is a film which takes place on a scale of epic proportions. While an initial viewing will undoubtedly engage it is a film which begs to be seen more than once. It is praiseworthy on so many levels.