The Brutalist Review

How Do You Live?

Every twenty to thirty years, we are blessed with a sweeping American epic that taps directly into the American zeitgeist. We had Paul Thomas Anderson's There Will Be Blood twenty years ago. Before that, we had Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather. Before that, we had Orson Welles's Citizen Kane. Today, we have Brady Corbet's The Brutalist. It is a film with immense scale and soul. The cinematography is a visual feast that will leave your jaw on the floor. The performances will tap into every fiber of your being, moving you to the core. The score swells and tingles the hairs on your neck, leaving you with a euphoric release. It's not just the definitive immigrant story but one that taps so much deeper into the heart of a rotten country, a rotten dream, and a rotten core at the heart of America. The film's exploration of the dark side of the American Dream will leave you feeling enlightened and introspective. In the face of atrocities and hardship, how do we live? Do we destroy ourselves and push away the ones we love and lust after? Do we push on, and how does that look? This great American novel and painting put to screen gives you everything and more, and Adrien Brody delivers the performance of the decade with pride and sorrow. Monumental would be an understatement. It can sometimes be overwhelming, but its deep and rich appreciation for visionaries is awe-inspiring. This is made to be seen on the giant screen, where its visual and emotional impact can truly be felt.

Set in the post-World War II era, a time of profound change and upheaval in America, The Brutalist follows the life of László Tóth (Adrien Brody), a Hungarian-born Jewish architect who emigrated to America after surviving the Holocaust. László, a complex character deeply scarred by his past, is driven by his passion for architecture. The film unfolds over several decades, depicting his struggles with poverty, sex, drugs, and his faith. The narrative is primarily set in Doylestown, Pennslyvania, a small town grappling with the challenges of modernization and urbanization. It's here that László's life becomes intertwined with that of a wealthy businessman, Harrison Lee Van Buren (Guy Pearce), and the construction of a massive community center in László's distinct brutalist style. The film masterfully weaves together the dynamics of this wealthy family, the construction project, and the return of László's wife from Hungary, creating one of the most compelling stories ever told.

Adrien Brody leaves it all out there on the floor. We see a man who seeks a good life but can't escape his past or face the reality of his future. In every scene, you can see a man who's so proud but so broken that you hang on every word and every expression as we see him lose all his dignity and try to dig his way out of that hell. The pathos that Brody gives off is astonishing, and I am completely taken aback by a man grieving the life that he is currently living. You pair that with the bold Guy Pearce performance as the wealthy head of the Van Buren family who's commanding, domineering, and sickly charming that you never know what his next move is. Felicity Jones as Erzsébet Tóth, László's wife, is spectacular. The moment she enters the film, you can feel a fundamental shift in the movie, and that one pushes it up to a whole other level as it helps us explore more into the psyche of Lazlo and her. Jones is just as extraordinary as Brody at times, where we deeply feel her emotional and physical pain on levels that I didn't know she could reach as an actor. Her presence is like a mighty shadow that lies over everything the film tries to look at regarding the search for the "American Dream." Joe Alwyn deserves a special shoutout, which I didn't see too much of in Kinds of Kindness earlier this year, but his sly performance here is excellent, and the way he explodes later on in the film is one for the ages. There are career bests around here, and all these performances blew me away.

The Brutalist is a true marvel on a technical level. Its sheer size and scope are breathtaking. Lol Crawley's cinematography will be studied for years as this is so brilliantly shot. I have no idea how he pulled off some of these landscapes and made me feel incredibly small in my seat. It was just a feast for the eyes, with how perfectly framed and beautiful every scene felt, so lived in and filled with life. Corbet's blocking and ability to set up a dramatic scene perfectly while having some cutting-edge editing to boot with insane graphics flowing across the screen, I couldn't help but be mesmerized by every technical aspect of the film. The film's technical brilliance will leave you in awe of the filmmaking craft. From roaming hillsides where silhouettes look right out the Seventh Seal to sprawling undergrounds that looked alien and otherworldly like in Stalker, to intimate scenes of those trying to make love that were right out of The Piano, I was taken aback by it all while doing my best to soak in how gorgeous it all is. The direction and the camerawork took me to new places I wasn't prepared for, but all were masterfully done. I can't believe I made it this far without mentioning the film's best part, which would be the grand score. The score will fill your heart with feelings you didn't think were possible. It was swelling and booming across your screen as you were electrified to the following setting.

I think The Brutalist cuts deep into the wretched false promises and propaganda made to so many immigrants about "The American Dream." It's a close examination of a life torn apart by men corrupted by capitalist forces and the xenophobia of those who aren't from here. We are constantly shown old 1950s Pennslyvania advertisements of how prosperous and wonderful it is here, but we know what is true. We experience the pain and what harm one might do to ourselves when we have such forces against us when we simply want to live, create, and be happy. These so-called powerful men who were or have been rotten by this ideology will seek only to expand their agenda and means but will be forgotten to the sands of time, unlike those who try to create out of love and passion. We will forever remember the artist, not the buyer.

The Brutalist is a lot of things. It's psychosexual, surreal, awe-inspiring, divisive, and immense. At its heart, though, it's a look at America in a way I don't think we've examined or nailed fully in film before. It's a beast of a movie that comes in under 4 hours, and somehow, it flew by. It's a grand epic that can only be described as a masterpiece with performances that will live forever. Shout out to my home state of Pennsylvania; I love you.

Final Score: 9.5/10

Written by Kevin J. Pettit