cinema | December 17, 2024
By Greg Carlson
gregcarlson1@gmail.com
Brady Corbet, the American film actor and author, is only 36 years old. It doesn't enjoy the same level of fan adoration as the projects of Paul Thomas Anderson, Wes Anderson, Christopher Nolan and others, but one can imagine the filmmaker hoping his third feature might change that status. Alexandra Schwartz's fresh profile of Corbet and “The Brutalist” in the New Yorker acknowledges the risks of old-fashioned epic filmmaking and the creation of “art without compromise,” setting the scene with Corbet's disarming statement: “You really have to dare to shit .” Transcend.” The loaded statement, like the sometimes painful decisions that Adrien Brody's Hungarian architect László Tóth makes in the film, invites you to do a variety of things interpretations.
In a sense, that phrase seems to isolate Corbet from any critics, a kind of “critic protection” against those who might dare suggest that this massive film, which has apparently garnered all sorts of praise this awards season, isn't quite the masterpiece advertised including the VistaVision production, stylish credits presentation, fifteen minute intermission, Lol Crawley's photography and Daniel Blumberg's film music. Along with these virtues, “The Brutalist” always manages to keep us interested in the rollercoaster saga of heroin addict and concentration camp survivor Tóth, who is continually faced with the dilemma of being a poor man in a rich man's house due to an assignment he designed a stunning civic center and place of worship for the kind of people who can only tolerate him.
Written by Corbet with his partner Mona Fastvold, “The Brutalist” offers, at its best, wondrous moments of visual expression. Classic American themes of immigrant history are fully integrated into the drama. In the first part of the film, entitled “The Mystery of Arrival,” Alessandro Nivola steals several scenes as László's cousin Attila. Some will prefer this part of the film to the more mysterious The Hard Core of Beauty, although the second part highlights László's sad descent into a prison of his own making and the self-destruction that comes with it.
Despite its massive scale, “The Brutalist” doesn't explore beyond its core cast in the way that “The Godfather” or “Heaven's Gate” breathed life and vitality into fascinating supporting characters. Isaach de Bankolé's faithful Gordon is frustratingly underutilized. Raffey Cassidy, who plays the orphaned niece Zsófia, is another missed opportunity. Joe Alwyn and Stacy Martin, the twin children of Guy Pearce's Harrison Lee Van Buren, fare only slightly better. Even Felicity Jones, caught up in a battle on multiple fronts with her wheelchair, hairstyles and accent, can't overcome the narrow function of a thankless role as the pragmatic Erzsébet, László's long-suffering wife.
The title fight and main event is undoubtedly László vs. Harrison, with each coveting something the other has. Both Brody and Pearce wring generous depth and nuance from their characters' often on-the-nose writing style. And even though you feel like you can see it coming from a mile away, the dark climax of their relationship is a stunning exclamation mark/mic drop that will earn Corbet as many hisses as ovations. Maybe it's the proximity to the results of the recent election, but the parallels between Harrison and the once and future leader of the United States might leave you with a pit in your stomach and a bad taste in your mouth.