This review was originally written before the 97th Academy Awards on March 2, 2025.
Brady Corbet’s The Brutalist is one that has been getting special attention lately. It’s shot in VistaVision (an old technology used to film movies) and includes a 15-minute intermission at the halfway point. It’s a classic immigrant story with one character, Laszlo Toth (Adrien Brody) brought to attention front and center.
The most astonishing aspect is how the film comes together in its look and scope. The movie reportedly had a budget of just under $10 million dollars and was shot in a month yet it looks and sounds amazing. It still takes place over a long period of time and in many locations, yet you’re able to follow the story beats with very little difficulty. Right from the absolute all-timer of an opening scene with Laszlo navigating the ferry and admiring the Statue of Liberty. The musical score by Daniel Blumberg elevates the characters’ journeys and discoveries with a strong brass motif.
The pacing is naturally better in this film as viewers can take a break to stretch their legs, get food, use the restroom, etc. This mindset helps as I thought the movie was essentially two films in one larger one; there are even title cards for “Overture,” “Part 1: The Enigma of Arrival,” “Intermission,” “Part 2: The Hard Core of Beauty,” and “Epilogue – The First Architecture Biennale.” Unlike other long films such as Oppenheimer or Killers of the Flower Moon, you are not taking in everything at once and have time to process what you’ve seen.
Where the film finds problems is with what it has to say. The characters are likable and you do care about them, but it does not take a lot of risks in the characters’ development. A lot of the film follows Laszlo working for Harrison Lee Van Buren (Guy Pearce), a wealthy industrialist who respects Laszlo’s ambition yet has a dark side. The characters can feel like caricatures in this sense. In other words, it feels like you have seen other movies with different characters who act in the same way. It’s a familiar, yet effective take on what Laszlo goes through.
A disturbing, tragic, and triumphant film about the American Dream, The Brutalist is a raw look at one man’s quest for glory and making a better life for himself. It shows the triumphs and tragedies Laszlo and his family face which parallel the experiences immigrants in real-life have faced, thus forming an instant classic combining the best of old and new cinema.