Movie Number 8 of 2025
The Movie: The Brutalist
The Cinema: Palace Cinemas, The Kino, Collins Street
Runtime: 3 hours and 35 minutes (with a 15 minute interval)
Stars: 5
Well, that was the most engrossing, beautiful, fascinating piece of cinema I've seen for a while. This is up there with Oppenheimer on its scale and cinematography. Seriously, this is a film that hits you around the ears and keeps your attention. It was the shortest three and a half hours I've experienced.
No wonder it's up for ten Oscars.
Although not a true story, this film encapsulates many immigrant stories. Brady Corbet and Mona Fastvold's screenplay is sublime, telling the story of many immigrants after World War II.
The movie itself follows a linear plot.
According to RottenTomatoes.com the film synopsis is as such.
"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."
Be warned. If you google Laszlo Toth, you're not going to find the same person. Look around a bit and you find out that the filmic Laszlo is an amalgamation of a number of architects of the age.
Adrien Brody is brilliant as Laszlo, a deeply human and flawed character, who has escaped World War II Budapest, to try and make his way in America. He may have been more at home on Mars. You watch as he struggles with racism, addiction, homelessness, a hostile workplace and a mercurial multi-millionaire. I think the Best Actor Oscar is in the bag here. The performance is as strong his performance in The Pianist.
The rest of the supporting cast are fantastic too. Felicity Jones is amazing as Erzsebet, his long-suffering wife, another possible Oscar winner there. And Guy Pearce is menacing as Harrison van Buren, Laszlo's quixotic and brutal benefactor. Another one with an Oscar nomination.
And with the sound scape and the incredible cinematography (it was shot in 70 mm, giving this even more depth) this is a joy to watch, even when the themes get a bit hard.
Brady Corbet's direction is sheer perfection
And yes, sure, there were some parallels with movies such as Citizen Kane, Oppenheimer and The Pianist, but with architecture theme, you get into the mind of a genius. As for the architecture, sure, Brutalism is a lot of concrete and harsh lines, but you find out more about. Some of the architecture reminds me of the built at MONA in Hobart. It's different, but with similar lines
Reading this back, I haven't done this film justice. It's going to stay with me for a long time. And mark me, this will win a number of Oscars. It's an extraordinary film.
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