Movie #3401 " The Brutalist" (movie theatre) I waited several days to get my thoughts in order about this one --- just one of what seems to be one of several out-of-the-box movies offered this year to the viewers who still enjoy seeing a movie in a theatre. I went in not knowing much about it at all --- I knew it was going to run long (3 and 1/2 hours with a 15 minute intermission ) , but I've sat through longer, so length doesn't usually worry me --- I once went to three Woody Allen movies in a row (because that's how they were being shown), and I sat through all of them with no problem. However, with this one I did feel the time because of the pacing of the film, which I felt was extremely slow --- I am used to all kinds of pacing, too, because I am a big indie movie watcher, but this was the kind of movie where the actors treat each piece of dialogue as a golden nougat --- to be cherished and thought about. Yes, it happens in films where that approach is taken, but I am not usually a fan of that. Maybe while watching "Lord of the Rings" I had that same feeling? (sorry, all you P, Jackson//Tolkien fans) Any way, I also thought there would be more of the end of the Holocaust, but that was taken care of in one scene, a quick 2-3 minutes , and suddenly we were on the move with Lazo Toth, a hungarian architect (without his wife who ended up in some other camp) to move through USA to Pennsylvania by himself. There was a lot of confusion during the opening of the film/the return after WWII (as it was for him) , so the pacing was pretty fast in the opening, but once it plopped him in Pennsylvania, it started to slow down --- I wish I could say the treatment of a Jewish immigrant after WWII coming to the US for an architect job was kind and loving, but it wasn't --- the married couple he settles with don't trust him, feel it is their "duty" to give him the job, but once there's a problem are ready to drop him. We, the viewer, are not surprised --- we still have that, even moreso, now, so the film seems to become topical at this point --- But then he gets involved in projects for this robber baron kind of guy (played by Guy Pearce) who comes across as maniacal, unsteady mentally, and bullish (sound like someone we know?) and his words become the nougats I was talking about earlier --- he slows the film down with giving long speech and proselytizing with this new architect who needs help getting his wife to him in Pennsylvania --- So when the bully does that, Lazlo owes him --- and the relationship gets even stickier. There's a son of the bully who moves in and out (not sure why), there's a black man that Lazo befriends who has a kid that needs to be fed who moves in and out, there's narration from Felicity Jones and once she's there, she becomes his conscience and a big supporter of his work (but she's not treated importantly until one big scene), and lots and lots of drug taking --- which all slow the film down. i get that he and his ego and artistic integrity are being questioned on a daily basis, but it becomes a stagnant tool the director uses to fill in scenes, in my opinion. One critic referred to it as : "unfolding of persistent misery." But along the way, the film does cover many subjects/themes, including: capitalism, immigration, addiction, Zionism, architecture, materializing art, inequity, class, violence, and even filmmaking (it is shot on 70 mm in monochromatic coloring to bring out the brutalism architecture it depicts). I didn't know that the title referred to on the surface the architecture until seeing the film, nor that not many European architects were alive after WWII (saw that on line). So the film is ambitious in telling this individual's story while giving us a history lesson of the times. I just didn't find it as interesting as I wanted it to be -- the photography is wonderful, the production design is worthy of being nominated, the musical score is creative --- there's homage to films like "Kane," but it wasn't Kane in the story line -- in that classic each piece of the puzzle fit together in a tight story line , but this one, not so much --- It might win editing, but I think that would be a mistake because I think it needed more tightening all around --- it didn't need to be that long --- we get that it spans the guy's life, but it can be done in a tighter amount of time. I'd give it a 3.8 out of 5. I would only recommend it to people who would find the story interesting --- It's a different kind of watch and not for everybody. Best Picture? not my vote because I've already seen "Wicked" and "Emilia Perez" that I thought were better. But that's why we have such a bevy of diverse films getting nominated --- hopefully, a few of these will speak to you in a special way and win your heart! This one did not for me.
"THE BRUTALIST" R (some rough scenes!) 3 hr, 34 mins
Then a visionary architect and his wife flee post-war Europe in 1947 to rebuild their legacy and witness the birth of modern United States, their lives are changed forever by a mysterious, wealthy client.
Director: Brady Corbet
Writers: Brady Corbet, Mona Fastvold
Actors:
adrien Brody, Felicity Jones, Guy Pearce
