Movie Icarus, 2024 has arrived! Brady Corbet’s The Brutalist for a long time felt like it was going to be our next great American epic, not only one of the best films of the year, but of the decade, with what it was trying to do and say. But the movie flew too close to the sun, and in the end, leaves us as a merely great piece of filmmaking. Maybe time will quell my frustration, but The Brutalist in me wants to be angry for a good bit of time about this one for not sticking the landing after taking incredible flight.
This 3 and a half hour (with an intermission) extravaganza starts on a boat arriving to the United States, holding László Tóth (Adrien Brody). László is a Hungarian Jew who just escaped the Holocaust, hoping to start his life over in Philadelphia with his cousin Attila (Alessandro Nivola) and Attila’s wife Audrey (Emma Laird). An architect at heart, László gets his chance back into his passion by redesigning millionaire Harrison Lee Van Buren’s (Guy Pearce) library. That remodel goes so well that Van Buren employs László to stay on his outer Philadelphia estate and design a giant multimillion dollar community center, in exchange for handsome pay and help to get László’s wife Erzsébet (Felicity Jones) out of her trapped life in Europe and into the opportunities available in the US.
The Brutalist is told in 2 parts. Part I is nothing short of spectacular. Corbet opens with this incredible tracking shot in darkness through the bowels of a ship, into the bright lights of daytime New York City and askew view of the Statue of Liberty. From there, like an architect himself, Corbet builds his immigrant/refugee story brick by brick. Some beats we recognize: American learning lessons for László, making friends with a fellow poor person (the wonderful Isaach de Bankole), a stroke of luck around someone with money or power, the growth in confidence – and hubris – of our protagonist as the story continues. But there’s also a much more dark undercurrent Corbet adds into his epic. This is no rose colored glasses version of The American Dream; we’re turning it on its head a little bit, as László’s rise is much more of a roller coaster, learning about all the consequences of American capitalism and exceptionalism as well as the emotional consequences of surviving something truly terrible (the Holocaust). That undercurrent gives this movie a growing sense of tension and dread alongside the growing euphoria for László in equal measure, making the audience lean forward more and more until we take our break at the first intermission.
Part II picks up from Part I and adds more wrinkles with new characters being introduced, giving us further perspective on what type of building Brady Corbet is trying to build. But the director’s perfect masterpiece falls apart with one bad brick. You’ll know it right when it happens. This choice by Corbet paints a beautifully grey movie in black and white, undercutting the complicated beautiful work of art he was crafting beforehand. The movie follows that shaky scene and hurtles us towards the director’s end game from it, having lost a good chunk of the audience good will with the movie falling apart a bit. It made me think Corbet worked backwards from the ending shots he had in mind, but didn’t take time to consider the multitude of other ways to deliver his big message more powerfully and less directly. The Brutalist so wants us to come out awash in magnificence at the power of the storytelling and direction on display from Brady Corbet, but instead we’re left feeling a perfect film was made just very good from a director high on his own supply, swallowed by his own hubris.
So Brutalist moviegoers, you’re in for a hard fall. Thankfully, that fall doesn’t fully negate the amazing experience you’ll have watching this near American epic when you do. I’m hoping Corbet realizes the error of his ways and has a director’s cut somewhere where he reorganizes the movie and eliminates the bad brick in his near perfect movie building. Ok, I’m done with the architect metaphors, I’m sorry about that y’all. That’s my Icarus moment for this review.