The American Dream has been deconstructed many times on screen with sweeping epics that define a decade. The tale of immigrants attempting to break through a system working against them has had many iterations that have become devastating depictions of the obstacles faced.
Brady Corbet’s The Brutalist is a unique journey of one man’s dream of artistic ideation and standing the test of time through his architecture. When visionary architect Lászlò Toth (Adrien Brody) and his wife Erzsébet fled post-war Europe in 1947 to rebuild their legacy, they met a wealthy client, Harrison Lee Van Buren Sr. (Guy Pearce), who changed their lives forever.
The opening crawl of The Brutalist hits the senses with an incredible overture by Daniel Blumberg and an inspiring journey ahead for Lászlò Toth. The first half is a slow build with rich dialogue showing the business tactics used to work the system in America.
Brody’s earnest performance is endearing when you realize how hard he has to fight to make his work known in America. You connect with his character based on his strong artistic vision and wanting to cement himself in American history.
There’s a light energy coursing through Brody when Lászlò feels as if he’s achieving his goals as he advances, but because his wife isn’t there to ground him, when things may seem bleak on his journey, he resorts to heroin as Brody shows the ugly side of climbing the ladder. Brody brilliantly captures the balance between light and dark and teeters on madness when Harrison Lee Van Buren Sr. gives him a difficult time.
The conversations between Lászlò and Van Buren Sr. are the most engaging aspects of the first act. The screenplay by Brady Corbet and Mona Fastvold gives Van Buren Sr. an intriguing, mysterious edge that holds the audience's attention because of questioning his morals and intentions for Lászlò. The microaggressions made against him because of Lászlò’s heritage have Van Buren Sr. undercutting him at every turn. Pearce gave one of his best performances and weaselled his way as the antagonist quite well.
When Lászlò begins his contract with Van Buren Sr., the large-scale design of the acres surrounding his home is breathtaking. The cinematography by Lol Crawley is strong as it captures the gravity of Lászlò’s artistry in each frame while he works through each piece. The religious undertones are also a factor within the architecture and how things must be reassessed to move forward on American soil.
At the intermission, which is fifteen minutes and integrated into the runtime of the film, is where the film takes a turn. The second act of The Brutalist descends into the darkness of the American Dream for an immigrant who wants to make an honest living but gets dragged into the ruthless nature of the business. Lászlò will be remembered for his stunning architectural achievements, but no one will ever know what he endured to build those monuments for Van Buren Sr.
When Erzsébet makes her way to America, Lászlò wants to introduce her to everything he has experienced while she is away. But he soon realizes his unhappiness was never about his wife not being there with him; it’s the crushing realization that he would never break into the system that is actively working against him. That is what’s so devastating and heartbreaking about the film.
However, there are moments in the third act when Corbet takes it too far, and the symbolism of white America abusing immigrants for their advantage becomes too on the nose. It felt like a constant run of abuse towards the Toth family just to put them through the worst things imaginable to further prove how mistreated immigrants are in America. The subtly present in the first half fizzles to make a bloated and badgering second act. Corbet then ends the film with a Gala for Lászlò’s architectural legacy, only for a bad taste to be left because of what he went through to get his name in history books. The Brutalist may be a technical feat for Corbet’s sophomore feature, but the script is uneven, with a jarring second act, it makes your stomach turn.
3.5/5
Review by: Amanda Guarragi
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