Visions.
Visions of the American Dream. Visions of one’s art, fully realized. Visions of one’s creation being tarnished by others. These elements encompass Brady Corbet’s “The Brutalist,” which won the Silver Lion for Best Direction at last year’s Venice Film Festival.
Set in post-war America, “The Brutalist” follows László Tóth (Adrien Brody), a Hungarian architect and Holocaust survivor renowned in his country for his distinct architecture and building designs. He travels to Philadelphia, staying with his cousin Attila (Alessandro Nivola) and his wife Audrey (Emma Laird), the owners of a furniture store named Miller & Sons. At the same time, László constantly writes to his wife, Erzsébet (Felicity Jones), and his niece, Zsófia (Raffey Cassidy), who are both still stuck in Hungary. László’s life begins to change one day when a man by the name of Harry Lee Van Buren (Joe Alwyn) stops by the store to request a commission from him: To renovate and remodel the library that his father, a wealthy industrialist named Harrison Lee Van Buren (Guy Pearce), has at his estate. This begins a tumultuous relationship between László and the Van Burens.
As László, Adrien Brody delivers an outstanding performance, embodying an architect who is desperate to achieve his vision. Highlights of his performance include the conflicts he comes into with employees and others during the construction of the community center.
Easily, the best performance out of the cast comes from Guy Pearce’s portrayal of Harrison Lee Van Buren, immersing himself in the slimy aspects of this character by being introduced with a verbal and visceral meltdown upon discovering the renovation done to his library. Examples of his stellar performance include a monologue that he delivers in the first half of the film when he is talking to László at a dinner party, ending this scene by stating to him, “I’ve found our conversation persuasive and intellectually stimulating.”
Felicity Jones also delivers an excellent supporting performance as Erzsébet with several scenes towards the end of the film being the highlight of her performance.
Director Brady Corbet, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Mona Fastvold, has crafted a film of sheer spectacle with a fifteen-minute intermission separating the two halves of the film — an element rarely seen in cinema since the 1960s during the age of the film epic. Corbet examines the compromising of the artist’s vision with scenes such as László coming into constant conflict with Leslie Woodrow (a builder hired by Van Buren, played by Jonathan Hyde) and Jim Simpson (an architect, played by Michael Epp) during the construction of the community center during the second half of the film. Corbet has also crafted a film that serves as a deconstruction of the myth of the American Dream, utilizing László’s vision for the community center being mutilated by others such as Jim Simpson.
A great element of the film is the beautiful score composed by Daniel Blumberg. Blumberg has composed spectacular pieces such as “Overture (Ship)” (the first piece that comprises the three-piece Overture in the film’s opening). Featured in the opening sequence of the film and immediately submerging the viewer in the tense and practically claustrophobic atmosphere of the environment, the piece brilliantly builds up the tension to László’s arrival in America on the ship. Another standout piece of the film’s soundtrack is “Chair” featured during a brief montage of László building a chair set for Miller & Sons. These two pieces highlight the sheer scope of the film, a beautiful blend of sound and vision with a combination of audio and images coinhabiting celluloid.
Another aspect of the film is the gorgeous cinematography captured by the film’s cinematographer, Lol Crawley. The first film entirely shot in VistaVision since Marlon Brando’s 1961 Western “One-Eyed Jacks” (although there have been films partially shot in it, such as Yorgos Lanthimos’ 2023 film “Poor Things” and Christopher Nolan’s 2014 science fiction epic “Interstellar”), Crawley captures a plethora of perfect shots. This includes a wide shot of the Statue of Liberty inverted (an image that has become synonymous with the film) in the opening sequence, a shot that invites the viewer to see the perspective from the immigrants on the boat to a medium shot of László building the chair set with sparks encompassing the frame. Crawley’s utilization of the VistaVision format feels like a callback to cinema during the 1950s and 60s, an age of film epics where VistaVision and other similar camera formats, such as CinemaScope, were heavily used in films.
With “The Brutalist,” Brady Corbet has crafted an epic period piece that is truly unlike any other film being released today with stellar writing, excellent performances, beautiful cinematography and a stunning soundtrack.
No work of art should ever be compromised.
“The Brutalist” is now playing in theaters.
