László Tóth (Adrien Brody) an architect and Holocaust survivor comes to America seeking a new life.
Scraping by with menial jobs, Tóth has put his vocation aside.
Tóth is given a chance to create his own American dream when a wealthy benefactor Harrison Lee Van Buren (Guy Pearce) presents him with an opportunity…
It is incredible how one creative choice can influence the entire effect of a movie - even a near-four hour epic.
It is hard to write about movies in the heat surrounding their release.
I sometimes find it hard to write something about a new movie when I see a critical consensus forming. Am I just regurgitating what other people are thinking? Am I reacting to said critique rather than the movie itself?
It is something I wrestle with all the time, and I keep coming back to the same conclusion.
We do not exist in a vacuum, and it is pointless to write like there is no context around whatever I am writing about. We are not just engaging with the text, but with the world around it - not just the criticism around the movie, the movie’s publicity or even the viewing experience.
I took a while to put this review out because I was waiting for all the opinions I had heard and read to settle, and for my own thoughts to coalesce.
In the end, I decided to just write it up and put it out.
I treat any review as a single impression caught in time. As soon as I put out a review, I do not treat that opinion as sacrosanct.
The Brutalist is a movie about creative expression. It would be easy to say it feels like a metaphor for working as an artist within capitalism, but that is literally what it is about.
As a movie about America and the immigrant experience, it is basically a nightmare.
Almost as soon as László is on his own, he is surrounded by people who are trying to use him, like he is a tool that can be picked up and discarded.
He is also treated like a transitory being, like a visitor who will not be staying.
His status and background are constantly questioned. There are a lot of scenes where László is the subject of an audience - almost like he is one of his buildings.
Lazlo only becomes vaguely accepted when he shows a talent that can be commercialised.
His patron Van Buren only becomes interested in Lazlo when the library adds to his own reputation.
Even his cousin Attila (Alesandro Nivola), who he comes to live with, sees him in terms of his ability to generate profit.
He is jealous of Lazlo, an unstated tension that runs through their scenes together.
The only reason he seems to tolerate Lazlo is because of his talent - like Van Buren, he sees a use for Lazlo, and only tosses him out when their project backfires.
Attila has completely assimilated, changing his name,marrying a gentile, and even fabricating his business (Miller & Sons) to create a sense of long-term history. He wants to be seen as not just belonging in America, but as having always belonged here.
His attempt at a community centre is the site of struggle, between Lazlo’s own desires, Van Buren’s, and the community this place is ostensibly meant to serve.
Like a lot of artistic people in his position, Lazlo’s artistry is figuring out a way to make that work.
For most of its runtime, I was totally onboard with The Brutalist.
Despite its size, I appreciated how the film managed to develop its themes with relative subtlety and respect for the viewer’s intelligence.
Van Buren’s sexual assault on Lazlo is the moment in the movie that I trip over. It feels like the filmmaker has lost faith in the rest of the film for conveying the idea of Lazlo’s exploitation. It felt melodramatic in a way that was different from other parts of the movie.
That choice is so explicit in its meaning that it retroactively made me question the movie leading up to it.
For me, it overwhelmed the rest of the movie.
I want to watch the movie again because that chunk of the movie following Van Buren’s assault on Lazlo felt off on my viewing.
We learn of Lazlo’s intention behind his vision but whatever impact that was supposed to have was completely robbed by what came before.
The standout of the cast is Guy Pearce - he is fire contained. Despite manners and placid exterior, there is a tension to the character, an internal rage that is hypnotising.
Van Buren presents himself as a blue blood, but he is new money. He was able to bring himself to fortune, and shows no willingness to help anyone else.
He is the movie at its best - representing a venomous version of American capitalism and masculinity that will sadly endure.
I want to give the film another watch, because I am still not sure I got what the film was aiming for. There is something missing and it only becomes clear during the final scene when we are finally given a reason for the character’s obsessive perfectionism on this project.
There is no sense of catharsis or revelation. It almost feels like an add on - although that might just be the stylistic changes. Maybe that is the point.
It is magnificent to watch. The Vistavision photography is eye-catching at times - the shots of the quarry, the long, extended of the train accident - when the movie is at a remove it is almost more effective.
I was not as enraptured as other people, and maybe the hype got in the way, but The Brutalist is definitely worth a look.
