Always a bit amazed when the three-hour-plus Oscar-bait turns up at the local cinema, especially one with a (brief) overture and a fifteen-minute intermission. Brady Corbet’s multiple award-nominated period drama stars Adrien Brody as architect — gee, I wonder what style of buildings he designs — and Holocaust survivor László Tóth, who is trying to make a new life for himself in late ’40s America. The bulk of the narrative concerns him getting pulled into the orbit of a wealthy benefactor played by Guy Pearce, who wants László to design a massive multi-purpose public building in his late mother’s name; László is also trying to secure passage to America for his wife (Felicity Jones) and niece (Raffey Cassidy). It feels like THE BRUTALIST is engineered to win a game of Oscar-bait Bingo: on top of the protagonist and his wife being Holocaust survivors, there’s also a drug addiction narrative, multiple sex scenes, a frank conversation about antisemitism that also felt like it could be applied to anti-immigrant feeling altogether, and an underlying theme about the power and peril of an artist holding to their truest vision. Certainly not regretting seeing it, the performances are all outstanding — it’s nice to see Guy Pearce in movies again, I think especially as a rich dickhead; he’s very convincing with both the polite and charming front and the “telling it like it is” douchebaggery — and it’s beautifully shot and cleverly constructed with either genuine or convincing recreations of mid-century shorts talking up what a great place Pennsylvania is, but eventually I really did feel the runtime. At some point ’round the middle of the back half I wondered, “if the building doesn’t get finished, how much more of this guy’s misery are we going to have to sit through?” Worth seeing, I’d say, but do get up and walk around during the intermission and maybe have some cheerier entertainment on deck for once it’s over.
