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BRADY CORBET | USA, UK | 2024 | 215 MIN | ENGLISH, HUNGARIAN, HEBREW, YIDDISH, ITALIAN
With his first two features, The Childhood of a Leader and Vox Lux (PFF27), actor-turned-filmmaker Brady Corbet established himself as an artist of rare daring and talent. Yet nothing could prepare viewers for the sweep and scale of The Brutalist, an American saga that feels like an instant classic. In 1947, Hungarian Jewish Holocaust survivor László Tóth (Adrien Brody) immigrates to America, settling in Pennsylvania. At first struggling to scrape by, skilled architect László gets a lucky break when he catches the attention of industrialist Harrison Lee Van Buren (Guy Pearce). With the wealthy benefactor promising to help bring László’s wife Erzsébet (Felicity Jones) to the states as well, the architect throws himself into the realization of Van Buren’s vanity project: a gargantuan Doylestown community center. Dogged by the psychological traumas of his past and constrained by the capitalist pressures of his adopted country, László labors at an all-consuming undertaking that will take up decades of his life. Filmed by cinematographer Lol Crawley in the gloriously retro (and nearly extinct) VistaVision format, The Brutalist masterfully adopts the look and feel of a midcentury Hollywood epic. Supported by richly nuanced performances from Pearce and Jones, Brody delivers perhaps the strongest work of his career, soulfully embodying the anguish and ambition of this complex, beguiling character.
Cast: Adrien Brody, Felicity Jones, Guy Pearce, Joe Alwyn
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