The Brutalist (2024)

	Directed by: Brady Corbet	COUNTRY USA Hungary United Kingdom GENRE Epic period drama NORWEGIAN TITLE The Brutalist RUNNING TIME 215 minutes
	Produced by: Trevor Matthews Nick Gordon Brian Young Andrew Morrison Andrew Lauren D.J. Gugenheim Brady Corbet
	Written by: Brady Corbet Mona Fastvold

Cast includes:
CHARACTER	ACTOR/ACTRESS	RATING
László Tóth	Adrien Brody	½
Erzsébet Tóth	Felicity Jones
Harrison Lee Van Buren	Guy Pearce
Harry Lee Van Buren	Joe Alwyn
Zsófia	Raffey Cassidy	-
Maggie Van Buren	Stacy Martin	-
Attila	Alessandro Nivola
Audrey	Emma Laird	½
Gordon	Isaach de Bakolé	½
Leslie Woodrow	Jonathan Hyde	½
Michael Hoffman	Peter Polycarpou	-

Review

This brainchild of director Brady Corbet and his Norwegian partner and co-writer Mona Fastvold is a three-and-a-half-hour epic told with intense, patient conviction – and a touch of panache. The narrative structure, divided into an overture, two main parts, and an epilogue, complete with an intermission at the halfway mark, reveals the filmmakers' level of ambition. And it certainly isn't groundless, because The Brutalist is a beautifully shot and composed picture that pays tribute to the history of cinema it stands on the shoulders of. Whether it also represents brutalist architecture and Hungarian language, culture, and immigrants with due respect is for others to decide, but it does successfully transport you back to the early post-WWII era and its climate and customs with deference – and almost without anachronisms. Less flawless are the conception and execution of the lead characters, and the path chosen for them in Part 2 in order to create the film's turning point and main conflict. It feels forced, imbued with a need for ostentation; in other words, a construct. The same goes for the epilogue, which is made to look documentary-like and give the impression that you've been watching a biopic – a move that lacks foundation. As a consequence, The Brutalist doesn't necessarily leave you only with the impression that you've watched a fine character study, elevated by Adrien Brody's best performance since The Pianist, or a very authentic and bittersweet dissection of a marriage, or another look at post-war trauma from a Jewish perspective and its clash with the American Dream and industrialism. Instead, it also leaves you with the impression of a film that ultimately goes down some self-serving paths in order to convince itself and its viewer that it actually has something to say.