Directed by: Brady Corbet
Distributed by: A24
Written by Taylor Baker
87/100
“The Brutalist,” more than any other 2024 release, reminds one of the impact musical composition can have on a film. It shows us, or reminds us, of the power, the awe, the bleakness, the desperation, the loneliness, the triumph, and the hope we each have and have yet to experience within ourselves. In Daniel Blumberg’s second at-bat creating a film score, he conjures a well of music that speaks to the soul of our central character, performed expertly by Adrien Brody.
In his best performance since “The Pianist” or “The Predator”–though the latter has just a few less fans than the former–Adrien Brody plays László Tóth, a Hungarian immigrant who seeks a future for himself and his wife Erzsébet in America after surviving the concentration camps of World War II. Captured in gorgeous VistaVision, from Tóth’s descent on the Philadelphia Express from New York to Pennsylvania, to his journey through a marble quarry in Italy, or his furrowed brow as he sparks up yet another cigarette, each of these and so many other sequences have a texture that reminds one of those 1950s VistaVistion films like “The Searchers” or “Vertigo” that like “The Brutalist” are great, but even grander to look at.
Corbet and cinematographer Lol Crawley conjure lasting images. Alternating between a slew of shot styles from intimate close-ups of our characters, to low angles and medium shots at dinner parties or work sites, and extreme landscapes of miniatures that look life-like. From its frenetic beginning, where we find Tóth writhing his way through the darkness of a ship docking at Ellis Island, Crawley’s images give us the feeling that we’re a witness sometimes walking side by side with Tóth and at others watching from a distance where, despite being backed up from the action there’s an intimacy that brings the audience in.
The supporting performances by the entire cast, but especially Guy Pierce as Harrison Lee Van Buren–Tóth’s patron–and Isaach de Bankolé as Gordon–Tóth’s co-worker and friend–raise the believability of the veil we’re peering through, reimagining and reconsidering America in the mid-1900s. For those familiar with Ayn Rand’s novel ‘The Fountainhead,’ the similarities of the characters, setting, theme, and principles within “The Brutalist” will be obvious. But that knowledge doesn’t interfere with this intimate epic of a singular artist unwilling or unable to compromise his vision despite the comforts and benefits it may give him and his family.
“The Brutalist” is an achievement, a marketplace miracle, and one of the year’s best.
“The Brutalist” Trailer
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