Brady Corbet’s “The Brutalist” opens with a knockout sequence.
Toth, an architect (Adrien Brody) who fled his country and arrives in America by boat, emerges outside the seacraft and sees, at a cockeyed angle, the Statue of Liberty.
The image also graces the film’s poster. Corbet, who reportedly directed this epic-scaled period drama for around $10 million, takes us into the story with an approach that is as literary as it is demonstratively cinematic.
We learn that Toth is coming to America in 1947 and begins his new life by working in a furniture store. He awaits the opportunity to bring his wife (an affecting Felicity Jones) stateside. A chance encounter with a hot-tempered Van Buren (Guy Pearce) suggests his entry into the U.S. has been professionally derailed.
Actually, it presents the beginning of the tough journey ahead.
Much of “The Brutalist” feels like an E.L. Doctorow novel adapted by Bernardo Bertolucci (the early goings reminded me of Bertolucci’s “1900” and “The Conformist” as much as Doctorow’s “Ragtime” and “Billy Bathgate”).
The storytelling is confident and unhurried, and the characters are as intriguing as the narrative. I was swept up in the telling, even as there is an episodic quality to the structure, which comes with chapter headings. Frankly, I’m glad Corbet decided to make this a theatrical release and not break it up into a televised mini-series.
The decision to film this in Vista-Vision alone makes it an event on the big screen, as the cinematography is full of aesthetic beauty as much as clever angles for audience immersion (I love a stolen moment when we watch an intimate conversation through cigarette smoke).
Brody has always been a generous, hard-working actor, whether in films like this and “The Pianist” (2002) or when he’s overqualified to enhance pulpy popcorn flicks like “The Jacket” (2005) and “Predators” (2010). He’s incredible in “The Brutalist,” giving Toth enough dimension and inner life to often make me forget I was watching the former star of “King Kong” (2005).
Pearce is also excellent, allowing an ambiguity and feeling of distrust to never entirely leave his equally complex characterization.
The three-hour and twenty-minute running time will be a major issue for most. I suspect the temptation is to either go all in or decide to wait for the inevitable, far less encapsulating streaming premiere.
Look, even if you have a big-screen TV with solid surround sound, don’t miss the opportunity to see this the way it’s meant to be seen. If there’s a good-sized theater near you or you are among the lucky to have an IMAX theater in town, this is worth the trip.
Is ”The Brutalist” as great as everyone seems to claim? I enjoyed and admired Corbet’s film but I have some caveats.
I love the decision to include an Overture and a 15-minute intermission (a superb inclusion, well-handled here, that last year’s “Killers of the Flower Moon” and “Napoleon” both could have greatly benefitted from).
However, even with the mid-movie break, with a great stopping point (even the onscreen image that remains during the 15-minute countdown is well chosen), I found the movie’s second half nowhere near as strong as the first.
What goes wrong? It’s not so much that the film missteps as much as Corbet and co-screenwriter Mona Fastvold pile on the melodrama and histrionics, which they managed to avoid for the first hour and a half. By adding so much of the dramatic over the trickier character building and the unexpected narrative building, I found the last hour to be tedious and predictable.
This isn’t to say that the movie belly flops or derails, only that the unrushed pacing and long scenes were now flush with big moments that you could see coming.
The final scene is pat and unsatisfying, with a full-circle visual that doesn’t pull everything together. In the first 90 minutes, I was aware of the very cinematic moments Corbet leans into, particularly the emotional reunions at train stations and the conversations that will inevitably lead to high-stakes story advancements.
Being self-conscious of how much one leans into classic cinema isn’t a bad thing; I only grew tired of this when the climactic encounters were overloaded with heated confrontations that seemed both obvious and a product of Screenwriting 101.
Again, to be clear, it doesn’t make “The Brutalist” a lesser film – like P.T. Anderson’s “There Will Be Blood” (2007), a brilliantly made film that also wore its welcome, I grew fed up with the whole thing by the end but still savored much of the film.
Director Brady Corbet and stars Adrian Brody and Felicity Jones spoke with Observer about how the A24 film ‘The Brutalist’—an intimate love story and historical epic—came together. https://t.co/2QX2aO0vCO
— Observer (@observer) December 20, 2024
If “The Brutalist” is slightly overrated, then fine. Despite my issues with the latter portion of the film and belief that it doesn’t conclude as strongly as it should, I found most of it engrossing.
A small item to bring up: despite opening in limited, then in wide release, the film currently sports no MPAA rating. There are some sex scenes and nudity that would easily garner an R rating.
If you long not just for the films of the 1970s but ones that replicate what the structure and filmgoing experience of a long-form story presented as an event night, run don’t walk to catch “The Brutalist.”
Full disclosure – despite my reservations I’m planning to see Corbet’s film a second time.
Three Stars
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