“The Brutalist” - Film Review
What is there to be said about the American Dream that hasn’t already been said? Brady Corbet’s The Brutalist would argue that the director/co-writer (with Mona Fastvold) has 215 minutes worth of thoughts about the American Dream. For those keeping score at home, a 215-minute runtime is roughly 3.5 hours. Granted, that’s including a fifteen-minute intermission, but still. Hollywood, as of late, lacks brevity. Broadway musicals are being doubled in length for the silver screen, stories are split into two films, and 2.5 hours has become the norm instead of the exception. Does The Brutalist earn its behemoth runtime? The answer, surprisingly, is yes. Corbet has created a dizzying American epic that dismantles the greedy, brutal ambition that goes hand in hand with the pursuit of the American Dream.
László (Adrien Brody) is a Hungarian-Jewish man who has come to the United States after surviving the Holocaust. Prior to the war, László was an architect. It’s a job he loved dearly that gained him much acclaim in Europe, but it’s immediately clear that his Jewish identity causes those around him to view him as lesser. László lands in Philadelphia where his cousin Attila (Alessandro Nivola) runs a successful furniture business. Attila asks László to use his architectural eyes to renovate the library of wealthy industrialist Harrison Lee Van Buren (Guy Pearce). The finished result inspires Harrison to hire László for a far larger project. In return, he will help bring László’s wife, Erzsébet (Felicity Jones), and niece Zsófia (Raffey Cassidy) to America.
courtesy of A24
One of the most famous images associated with the United States is the Statue of Liberty, which sits in New York Harbor to welcome all those who come to this country. It’s a symbol that stands for the promise of the American Dream – that people can change their circumstances with enough hard work. Of course, now we know that there are plenty of problems with this ideology, but for László, to be in the presence of the Statue of Liberty is a euphoric moment. It’s an early scene in the movie. László, giddy and damp from the sprays of mist, is in the shadow of the Statue of Liberty, but she’s not presented in the way we’re used to seeing her. The Brutalist inverts the statue, an ominous precursor of what’s to come. When imagery is turned upside down, it’s believed that the interpretation becomes the opposite of its intended purpose. The Statue of Liberty is supposed to welcome, to give hope, and to be a beacon of potential. László doesn’t know it yet, but all the statue will bring is unwelcome stares, despair, and failure.
The Brutalist is split into two sections, with an intermission punctuating the end of one and the beginning of another. “The Enigma of Arrival” gives way to “The Hard Core of Beauty.” It’s a story of reinvention and all of the promise and hardship that come with that. László is given a fresh start, but it comes with strings attached. To be accepted in this new world, he must lose part of himself. Attila changes the way he speaks, converts to Catholicism, and never looks back on his life in Europe. László struggles to do the same, perhaps because so much of his life remains there. The buildings he designed, his loved ones, and his culture, are all left behind.
courtesy of A24
There’s a grandness to The Brutalist that cannot be ignored. László’s massive works of architecture are as impressive as they are empty, both his freedom and his prison. The American Dream is full of potential that must break through the empty vastness of possibilities. It takes a certain type of person to conceptualize the future, and another type of person who can actually build it. The two cannot exist without each other and, in the case of The Brutalist, this is László and Harrison. They’re destined for one another, but not in a good way. They are two egos hurtling toward the future, each operating under the belief that they, and they alone, know what’s best for what comes next.
The Brutalist is an ugly American saga that gets at the dark underbelly this country was built on. Throughout the history of the United States, greed is the only constant. The people in power get there by building their wealth on the backs of people in lower socioeconomic standing and yanking away the ladder to success after they’ve made it. The Brutalist is grave, and it should be. This country would not be what it is without the greed, obsession, and fury that course through the veins of this nation. It’s a fitting epic for a country that tries to idealize a past filled with violence.
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