Directed and produced by Brady Corbet from a screenplay co-written by Corbet and Mona Fastvold (The Childhood of a Leader, Vox Lux), comes The Brutalist. The film may be “brushed off” as just another story of the immigrant experience after World War II, but this one reveals the toxicity of how a skilled and visionary architect from Europe was received, then later treated. While this character may be fictional, this is just one of many stories of immigrants who have traveled here since that war alone (as well as before). The mistreatment, humiliation and abuse of people has not stopped. Coming to the states for the “American Dream” is anything but that for many.
Synopsis: Escaping post-war Europe, visionary architect László Toth arrives in America to rebuild his life, his work, and his marriage to his wife Erzsébet after being forced apart during wartime by shifting borders and regimes. On his own in a strange new country, László settles in Pennsylvania, where the wealthy and prominent industrialist Harrison Lee Van Buren recognizes his talent for building. But power and legacy come at a heavy cost…
A Hungarian-Jewish architect László Tóth (Adrien Brody) is a Holocaust survivor and comes to the USA on a ship to settle into a new life after a forced separation from his wife Erzsébet (Felicity Jones). While his wife is with her niece Zsofia (Raffey Cassidy), László settles in Philadelphia with his cousin Attila (Alessandro Nivola) and wife, planning to help with their furniture business. Assigned to a job, the client is not happy with the changes, causing Attila to change his attitude. What appears positive at first is that a rich industrialist, Harrison Lee Van Buren (Guy Pearce), learns of the immigrant’s history and talent.
Van Buren offers László a commission for a building and this is a key step forward for the architect’s work, reunion with his wife and more. Once on board with the build, László’s working style is not well understood by those around him, including Van Buren’s son Harry (Joe Alwyn). Between Harry’s remarks and Van Buren’s criticism and actions towards Erzsébet and László, the disrespect is evident.
Brody is phenomenal in his performance, with multiple nominations and wins for Best Actor so far. Jones is superb as well with various nominations for supporting actress awards. Pearce is so authentically good at portraying Van Buren; a character we see too often in modern times and is well written to be all of what can be considered detestable.
The Brutalist has a 15-minute intermission due to the running time of 215 minutes. Rated R (strong sexual content, graphic nudity, rape, drug use and some language).
Produced by: Brady Corbet, Trevor Matthews, Nick Gordon, Brian Young, Andrew Morrison, Andrew Lauren, D.J. Gugenheim.
In select theaters since December and in theaters nationwide on Friday January 10, 2025.
Source: A 24
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