The Brutalist

In 1947, architect László Tóth (Adrien Brody) flees persecution in Budapest for the US; initially forced to toil in poverty, circumstances thrust him into the orbit of Harrison van Buren (Guy Pearse), a millionaire businessman who comes to recognise the spark of revolutionary genius in the Hungarian’s innovative contemporary designs, and engages him to build a spectacular structure in honour of van Buren’s recently deceased mother, a sprawling project that will consume both men as their tumultuous relationship grows ever more co-dependent. With ambition to match that of his protagonist, Brady Corbet has fully realised the potential he displayed with his first two films, The Childhood of a Leader, and Vox Lux; shot and presented on 70mm, The Brutalist, though modernist in its sensibilities, is redolent of epic event pictures of old. This is enthralling, maximalist, exhilarating cinema.

Director: BRADY CORBET

215 mins, USA-UK-Hungary, 2024, 70mm