Director – Brady Corbet (Vox Lux) 

Cast – Adrien Brody, Guy Pearce, Felicity Jones, Joe Alwyn, Raffey Cassidy, Stacy Martin, Alessandro Nivola

Plot – Escaping the harsh realities of post-war Europe in the 1940’s, famed architect László Tóth (Brody) strikes up an uneasy business relationship with wealthy businessman Harrison Lee Van Buren Sr. (Pearce) as László patiently awaits the reunion between himself and his beloved wife Erzsébet (Jones) in the midst of the biggest project of his working life. 

“I’ve found our conversation persuasive and intellectually stimulating“

Review by Eddie on 20/02/2025

A very real chance at becoming this years Best Picture winner at the soon to be held Academy Awards ceremony if it is to hold off a recent charge from fellow indie-darling Anora, Brady Corbet’s Golden Globe winning sprawling epic is in many ways a masterclass of low-budget filmmaking with numerous elements that can be admired but at the same this three and a half hour drama has a multitude of areas and ingredients that make it a film hard to love.

Shot for a supposed budget that came in under $10 million dollars overall, The Brutalist’s scope and ability to feel both grand and intimate is no small feat and Corbet’s rise from character actor and filmmaking growth from his last feature film Vox Lux is something that is worth praising but while his passion project features a trio of awards worthy performances and his film’s technical prowess’s are a sight to behold, The Brutalist’s demanding narrative and set of mostly unlikeable characters makes it a sometimes arduous and questionable experience that is going to cause great division amongst those that fall in love with the film and those that feel cold towards its ambitions.

Following decades in the life of Adrien Brody’s famed European architect László Tóth, who has escaped post-war Europe for a fresh start in America with aims to rebuild his career and be reunited with his long-estranged wife Erzsébet (an impactful but underused Felicity Jones), The Brutalist shares some similarities to fellow challenging character study epics such as There Will Be Blood and The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford but for the most part Corbet’s film is its own unique beast that marches to the beat of its own drum for better and worse.

There’s no doubting that when Corbet’s film hits it hits hard, whether its an outstanding opening segment leading to the films initial credits, some outstanding and deservedly praised performances from its leading men that includes Brody and an arguably never better Guy Pearce as Tóth’s newest employer, the filthy rich and complex Harrison Lee Van Buren Sr. and some truly stunning visuals that move in wonderful unison with composer Daniel Blumberg’s memorable score but there’s a lot that happens throughout The Brutalist’s at times gruelling runtime that is hard to agree with or be enraptured by, making this an experience that isn’t so much enjoyable as it is one to be intrigued by.

What’s undeniable is both the fact that the film gives Brody his best chance yet in a post-The Pianist world to showcase that he is still one of the most gifted performers working in Hollywood and despite the reality that his career has had its fair share of questionable projects over the journey his performance here is monumental, even if Tóth himself is a hard character to root for a lot of the time and also the fact that Corbet’s film is such an outlier in a Hollywood system that seems to be trying its best to avoid these type of risky and high-reaching projects that are bucking the tried and true formulas to give audiences something entirely different, even if that means gaining an equal amount of fans as it does detractors.

Very much a film of two halves (quite literally with a 15 minute intermission built into its final cut), this VistaVision (yes you read that right) presented production is many things all at once and one that may alienate its otherwise onboard viewers with a divisive second act, The Brutalist creates a hard to describe experience that is at times what can only be labelled a masterpiece and at other times a film that loses its way and provides murky messaging, combining into an overall experience that is curiously enchanting and dissatisfying in equal measure.

Final Say –

An achievement that can’t be denied in a performance and craftsmanship sense, The Brutalist would be a brave choice for the Oscar’s Best Picture winner as Brady Corbet has created a challenging movie watching offering that is many things both good and bad and one that can’t be accused of not attempting something we haven’t quite seen before.

3 renovated libraries out of 5