- By NINA SVENTITSKY
Brutalism was an architectural style in post-war Europe – employing concrete and geometric shapes, stressing function over beauty, a metaphor for rebuilding after the destruction of Europe. Ugly, but necessary. This film (The Brutalist) is about the brutality of that post-war life, the brutal nature of power, and lure of achievement.
Adrian Brody turns in an astounding performance in The Brutalist, proving his talent for wholely embodying flawed characters in films that take on the terribleness of the 20th century. What he brought to The Pianist – the struggle to maintain humanity amidst the horrors of the Warsaw Ghetto – he brings to László Tóth, a post-WWII survivor who emigrates to America.
Plot: A talented architect survives the camps, gets to America, and after working as a laborer in a coal plant and going through intense personal lows, is discovered by a wealthy benefactor who changes his life. Dickens could not have come up with a better rags-to-riches story. Except this simplistic version does not include the heroin addiction, family reunion and estrangement, emotional blackmail and decades of trauma, set against the grandeur that was 1950s America, an anything-was-possible decade of industrialization, building and expansion of our society.
Brody joins a cast including Felicity Jones, Guy Pearce and Joe Alwyn in this stunning film from Brady Corbett. It is justifiably up for dozens of awards, and is an AFI Top 10.
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