On February 18, the digital premiere of the drama 'The Brutalist' took place — one of the main favorites of the upcoming Oscars. Over the past few months, the word 'monumental' has practically stuck to the film. We tell you whether the film really de...

'The Brutalist' was first shown in the fall at the Venice Film Festival. For 36-year-old director Brady Corbet, this is his third work, clearly aiming higher than his previous ones. In the Oscar race, the film looks like one of the strongest nominees, which will definitely not leave without a statuette. Critics are delighted with the drama (94% on Rotten Tomatoes and 90/100 on Metacritic at the time of writing), and foreign audiences are also mostly praising it (7.9/10 on IMDB at the time of writing). To be honest, the flattery is mostly justified, but this is the real 'not for everyone' cinema with aspirations of greatness.

What's the Plot?

1947. László Tóth (Adrien Brody), a Hungarian Jew, emigrates from war-torn Europe to the USA. Behind him is Buchenwald, ahead is uncertainty. With not a cent to his name and a $25 travel voucher from the authorities, the once fashionable architect heads to Philadelphia to his cousin Attila (Alessandro Nivola). There, the hero receives good news: his wife Erzsébet (Felicity Jones) and niece Zsófia (Raffey Cassidy) are alive but stuck somewhere in Europe.

Having set up his cousin in his furniture store, Attila gets an order from a returning client, Harry Lee (Joe Alwyn), the son of a prominent businessman. The young man wants to surprise his father by remodeling his library. The furniture makers take on the job, hire workers, but just before the project is completed, Harrison Lee Van Buren (Guy Pearce) himself suddenly appears and furiously drives everyone away. As a result, the client refuses to pay for the work, and László, slandered by his cousin's wife, ends up on the street.

For the next few years, the architect lives in a shelter. Together with his black friend Gordon (Isaach De Bankolé), they work on the construction of a bowling alley, sometimes unloading coal. This continues until Van Buren suddenly reappears. The businessman apologizes for the misunderstanding in the past and says that he later learned about László and eventually appreciated the library. Harrison also gives the creator compensation for the work and invites him for a social visit the following weekend. At the meeting, Mr. Tóth meets influential people who can help bring his wife and niece from Europe. He also receives a generous offer to design and build a community center. It seems a new life is on the horizon.

Crown of Creation

Once an actor, Brady Corbet worked with Michael Haneke and Lars von Trier, and now, as the famous song goes, 'Cannes and the entire California coast applaud him' (though it would be more accurate to replace Cannes with Venice). Almost ten years ago, in 2015, the young director (then 26) presented his first feature film 'The Childhood of a Leader' at the Venice Film Festival, winning the Best Debut award and the Best Director award in the 'Horizons' section. Since then, Corbet seems to have a tradition of premiering his films at the Venice Film Festival. Three years later, in 2018, he brought 'Vox Lux' there, and last fall, 'The Brutalist,' which became a true triumph (12 minutes of applause, the FIPRESCI Prize, and the Silver Lion for Best Direction).

Then things took off: the well-known and beloved A24 bought the distribution rights for $10 million, various awards poured in, the Golden Globe highlighted the film in three categories, BAFTA in four, and the Oscar gave ten (!!!) nominations, including all the key ones. With a budget of less than $10 million, the film has already grossed over $30 million, which is obviously a good indicator for arthouse festival cinema. But recently, Corbet admitted that despite all the success of his film, he earned exactly zero dollars from it.

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At the same time, 'The Brutalist' lays an incredibly solid foundation for the director's future career. Already, the director is being compared to great masters of cinema like Paul Thomas Anderson, Martin Scorsese, and Francis Ford Coppola. The parallel with the latter is obvious, because if you simplify it, Corbet's film is essentially 'Megalopolis' for a healthy person. Given the director's ambition and his enormous aspirations, which simply protrude from all sides, he may soon be able to stand alongside those he is currently being compared to. At the very least, expectations for his next project are already quite high.

'The Brutalist' runs 3.5 hours (as Shrek said: 'I wonder what his complexes are'), and in theaters it was shown with a 15-minute intermission. Throughout the runtime, the director seems to identify himself with the main character. He understands that he is building something monumental, destined to go down in history, perhaps even capable of becoming a classic over time. He erects a heavy statue, whose grandiose form, like the community center, impresses, but sometimes forgets to fill the empty spaces inside. The author puts a bunch of meanings into his film novel, some of which only a select few will understand. Therefore, despite all the grandeur, by the end the film begins to feel like an adaptation of the phrase: 'I'm an artist, I see it that way'.

Breaking is Not Building

At the very beginning of the film, Adrien Brody's character makes his way through the dark belly of a ship and emerges into the light, where an inverted Statue of Liberty looms over the emigrants. The metaphor of the 'American Dream' is obvious: the dark past remains behind, and ahead, the freedom of the New World seems to beckon. However, there are far more people disillusioned with the dangerous myth promising unlimited opportunities than those who have managed to achieve happiness. László Tóth immediately encounters insidious capitalism, where any success must be backed by the rustle of banknotes (yet another proof that the dollar is a dirty green piece of paper).

First, the architect gets acquainted with a demo version of the system in his brother's store, who abandoned his real surname and faith for the sake of a small business. After initial difficulties, the cousin throws out his relative, but later the creator gets a second chance to show himself and his talent, this time on a larger scale. However, he does not even suspect that he is voluntarily entering the same cage, only with predators far more dangerous than his cousin.

Adrien Brody did an excellent job embodying the difficult image of a daring yet withdrawn man who numbs his pain with heroin (though it's not his first time playing a talented Jew). László Tóth is a proud and principled creator, battered by life, which has taught him humility. He thinks about money and profit last. What matters to him is the concept, which must be implemented as accurately as possible. For him, the end goal is more important than the path to it. This is perfectly demonstrated in the scene where the architect sacrifices his fee so that the project can become exactly as originally intended. Brody's role in 'The Brutalist' is undoubtedly his best since 'The Pianist,' and it would not be surprising if the main film award once again finds its winner in him.

Felicity Jones looks very advantageous in a duo with the actor. Her Erzsébet is no less traumatized than her husband, but at the same time she is a more resilient and sensible person. If László is the walls and roof of their family hearth, then his wife is the solid foundation. Despite any adventure, the wife supports her husband, sobering him up and warning him of trouble. And in the most difficult moments, she stands up for him, overcoming her own pain. She understands that László is not perfect, but still loves him immensely and stays by his side even in the crisis moments of their lives.

Guy Pearce, in turn, played the role of a man from the opposite world. Harrison Lee Van Buren is the embodiment of material wealth. For him, the price of a human life is measured in image and material damage. He says he wants to turn to the sky, to touch art, calling conversations with László 'intellectual stimulation'. The cellar is already bursting with Portuguese Madeira, the library is overflowing with first editions, and butterfly collecting has become boring, so it's time for something new.

His eye falls on architecture: a building named after his beloved mother should become a reputational crown, a demonstration to society of the businessman's undeniable involvement in art. But sponsoring the enterprise alone is a thankless task. Therefore, in exchange for allocating a significant percentage of the center to a Christian congregation for a chapel, the ambitious project will receive the mayor's approval for local and state funding.

In 'The Brutalist,' there is a poignant scene where László describes the bitter truth for many relocants, which is hard to accept. Especially for those who are actively searching for their place in life. Probably, no characters are more appropriate than Jews who survived the Holocaust to fully reveal the thought. These people essentially have no 'home' (although one is being created in the background), and pity for their people after the brutal tragedy has peaked, but even in such conditions they turn out to be 'unwanted by anyone' and are practically ground up by the ruthless system.

The idea that capitalism is evil, running counter to creative freedom, is not new. Nor is the discussion about the illusory nature of the American (or any other country's) dream, which often turns out to be a myth for immigrants. But these topics have not become less relevant over the years (especially in light of recent events). And Corbet, with the cold-blooded gaze of a realist, demonstrates all the hardships experienced by the architect, without descending into embellishing the story with excessive optimism or pessimism. From this point of view, 'The Brutalist' turns out to be a film that is more necessary than ever for society. No matter how grandiose the end goal, one must not forget about the path, because not every walker can handle such a difficult road.

However, there is a problem that, like most auteur films, 'The Brutalist' builds a wall brick by brick between itself and the average viewer. The first half evokes genuine delight, and everything goes smoothly until the intermission. But the further you watch the second act, the more you realize how much the director distances himself from the dialogue with each minute, retreating into pretentiousness. The film reaches its apogee with an overly artistic ending to the main story, and then finishes with an epilogue that emphasizes the director's superiority.

It feels as if Brady Corbet is presenting the result of his many years of work, towering over the viewer. And we, with our heads raised, look up and see there the light of freedom of thought and freedom of personality that is unattainable for us. And by the time the final credits roll, you inadvertently begin to feel like Guy Pearce's character, who really wants to touch art and is glad that he has just been 'intellectually stimulated' for almost 3.5 hours.

What's the Verdict?

Brady Corbet's drama belongs to the category of films under which a picture of Martin Scorsese's face with the caption 'absolute cinema' would look appropriate. A canvas that will be talked about even after some time, and all future works of the director are practically doomed to regular comparison with 'The Brutalist.' This is truly a monumental and epic work, worthy of all praise and applause. It is all the more surprising that the budget for such a heavy auteur statement is just two concrete slabs, seven bags of cement, and a KamAZ truck of crushed stone. Obvious proof that a skilled master will squeeze the maximum out of all available resources to achieve his goal.