Every rare now and then, a performance comes along that is so organic and natural that even though one is familiar with the actor all memories of his other work recede. That’s how I felt watching Adrien Brody in The Brutalist. It isn’t a matter of acting per se: he becomes Laszlo Toth, a Hungarian refugee trying to make his way in America in the years following World War II. He was born to play this role.
Proud, stubborn, independent, outspoken and often reckless, he accepts a friend’s invitation to board in a storeroom of his furniture shop in Philadelphia. We know he won’t be there long, but how and why he departs is crucial to the unfolding saga devised by director Brady Corbet and his writing partner Mona Fastvold, who is also his wife.
Guy Pearce is perfect as the immigrant’s unexpected patron, a wealthy, self-absorbed man who is used to getting whatever he wants. Toth tries to find ways of coping with the compromises—and even humiliation—that he faces every day as an impoverished foreigner, but his only chance for sanity comes with the arrival of his wife (Felicity Jones) from Europe.
Everything about this movie is big: emotions, ambitions, mood swings. It seems appropriate that Corbet turned to a big-screen format to capture it all. His is the first American feature shot in VistaVision in more than half-a-century. (It was developed by Paramount in the 1950s during the years of heated competition to lure people away from television and into theaters. A VistaVision frame resembles IMAX and travels through the camera horizontally, yielding exceptionally sharp, clear images.)
I complain so often about movies that don’t know when to quit that I hope you will believe me when I say The Brutalist, at three hours, never seems slow or dull. And blessings to Corbet and Fastvold for building a 15-minute intermission into their presentation.
The Brutalist is not just another film arriving at year’s end seeking recognition and awards. It is the product of rich imagination and exacting discipline, one struggling artist’s story and his collision with a moneyed sponsor Writ Large. I look forward to a second viewing.