On December 20, 2024, A24 releases 'The Brutalist', which has earned rave reviews from critics and a score of 97% on Rotten Tomatoes alongside a Critics Consensus that reads, "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...." The ensemble cast includes Joe Alwyn, Guy Pearce, Raffey Cassidy, Felicity Jones, and Adrien Brody. Read the full review round-up below.
Roger Friedman of Showbiz 411 writes, "It looks like a masterpiece, it’s long, and rises to enormous heights many times during its showing. You could say it’s like a piece of Brutalist architecture."
Brianna Zigler of AV Club notes, "The Brutalist is impressive, but like the technically brilliant construction at its core, never feels wholly worthy of the suffering put into it." Continuing, "Racism and persecution guide László’s brutalist designs, erecting a monument meant to mirror the prison which held him in Buchenwald, to the complete ignorance of the Van Burens. With the (obvious) reveal of László’s artistic intentions late in the film, The Brutalist’s Israel references come across somewhat conflicting. Is László’s structure a memorial, or is it just another prison? Is Israel truly free for the Jews, or is it more similar to America than the Tóths care to admit? The Brutalist tip-toes around the issue and the questions it sparks, too annoyingly subtle to spark outrage from either side. But the building is outwardly less memorializing than it is blanketly intimidating. Shots inside the structure—filmed magnificently by cinematographer Lol Crawley—are sometimes evocative and deeply shadowed, other times stark and plain, the intensity of the raw concrete enough to threaten on its own. In fact all of The Brutalist, filmed in stunning VistaVision and screened on 70mm, is thrillingly composed. Across its three-and-a-half-hour runtime, it grapples with themes of assimilation, American mythology, colonization, and self-imprisonment; although, by the second half of the film the story feels wanting. The Brutalist hinges upon the sum of its parts, similar to Corbet’s more divisive Vox Lux, which also dealt conflictingly with America-specific trauma. Still, there is a cynicism that separates The Brutalist from your typical immigrant rags-to-riches tale. László is tormented, his relationship with Erzsébet is deeply troubled, and Jones’ performance is one of pain and vulnerability toughened by unspeakable suffering. But the boilerplate nature of the narrative (co-written by Corbet and Mona Fastvold) undercuts the technical strengths, and emphasizes some of the other various hitches along the way. Isaach de Bankolé’s character, for example, exists to show that László is compassionate to Black people during this difficult era, and there is a shocking literalization of Harrison and László’s relationship that leaves little room for nuance."
Avi Offer of NYC Movie Guru praises the film, stating, "Beautifully shot and initially captivating, heartfelt and spellbinding before it loses steam and becomes clunky and undercooked. Adrien Brody gives an Oscar-worthy performance, one of his best since The Pianist."
Ross Bonaime of Collider writes, "It’s also fascinating to watch how László’s journey changes depending on who enters his world. When he lives in Attila’s furniture shop, holed up in an old stock room, he’s much more meek and unassuming; he gets his work done, but he mostly stays out of sight. Yet once he’s shown his greatness through old newspaper clips by Harrison and given a job worthy of his talents, he tackles the opportunity with vigor. Pearce is also giving one of his finest performances yet as Harrison, a symbol of how rich men in power utilize the work of immigrants to get ahead in life. Harrison isn’t a character who’s easy to parse out, shifting from a screaming madman to a welcoming figure in the community for László in his first two scenes. Even when The Brutalist is more blunt about Harrison’s intentions in the second half of the film, one of the movie’s rare missteps, Pearce plays Harrison with the stoicism and hypocritical moralism that makes the character work."
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| Photo by Claudio Schwarz on Unsplash |
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