The Brutalist
No other director has come as close to making a Paul Thomas Anderson film than Brady Corbet with The Brutalist.
Pulling primarily from the stark wonder of There Will Be Blood and The Master, this stunning epic about second chances in the new world ultimately most reflects the Vox Lux filmmaker’s own cinematic ambitions and firmly establishes him as a talent to watch.
The visual and tonal mastery on display means even something familiar and challenging like a train wreck is staged with poetic grace, and it's matched by measured storytelling and some of the year’s most dedicated performances.
Corbet and co-writer Mona Fastvold imbue the post-WWII U.S. fresh start for Holocaust survivor and celebrated Hungarian-Jewish architect László Tóth (Adrien Brody) with a passionate desire to see him succeed and reunite with his wife Erzsébet (Felicity Jones), who was presumed dead in the concentration camps.
Fortifying and complicating this particularly soulful depiction of the immigrant experience is László’s relationship with ultra-wealthy Harrison Lee Van Buren Sr. (Guy Pearce), which transforms from tense to brotherly once the businessman recognizes the foreigner’s talent and recruits him to design an ambitious building in the titular style.
Naturally, the huge project doesn’t quite go as planned due to such factors as László’s Fountainhead-esque inability to compromise and some not-so-subtle, antisemitic-fueled subterfuge courtesy of Van Buren’s son Harry (a perfectly cast Joe Alwyn in full scumbag mode). It’s a treat to see Brody back in a lead role in a major project, and his ability to channel tragically stubborn genius is the engine that keeps The Brutalist chugging on the dramatic front.
With all of the film’s elements working together at the highest level, the 3.5-hour runtime flies by and is made immensely more accessible by a 15-minute intermission. The brief respite makes one wonder why more directors of long movies don’t employ it — and why more modern films don’t attempt the transcendent gravitas that Anderson and now Corbet have mastered.
The Brutalist may even go where no Anderson film has before and win Oscars for Best Director and perhaps Best Picture. Regardless of the awards outcome, it’s a toss-up between this and Civil War as the best film of 2024.
Grade: A-minus. Rated R. Now playing at Carolina Cinemark and the Fine Arts Theatre. Starts Jan. 24 at Regal Biltmore Grande.
(Photo: A24)
