The Brutalist

 

Directed by Brady Corbet and written by Corbet and Mona Fastvold, The Brutalist is the story of Hungarian-Jewish architect who immigrates to America where he hopes to live the American Dream as he struggles with trying to find work until a wealthy man asks him to build something only for things to get worse. The film is study of a man who is given a chance to create something in his vision as he would struggle to get things his way while dealing with his own issues as well as the demands of this wealthy figure. Starring Adrien Brody, Felicity Jones, Joe Alwyn, Stacy Martin, Raffey Cassidy, Emma Laird, Isaach de Bankole, Alessandro Nivola, Ariane Labed, and Guy Pearce. The Brutalist is a majestic and harrowing film by Brady Corbet.

Set from 1947 to 1963 with an epilogue set in 1980, the film is about a Hungarian-Jewish architect who arrives in America where a wealthy man later asks him to create something in tribute to his mother only for things to get complicated and troublesome. It is a film that is an exploration of ambition and art with this man being at the center of wanting to create something big, but he is forced to answer to the wills of this industrialist who would undermine everything. The film’s screenplay by Brady Corbet and Mona Fastvold is set into two different parts given the scale of the story of this man who is known for creating architecture that is unique in its brutalist style. The first scenes does not show its main character but rather his niece Zsofia (Raffey Cassidy) as she is being interrogated by Soviet officials in the aftermath of World War II where her uncle Laszlo Toth (Adrien Brody) is on a ship to America where he arrives in New York City.

The film then goes into its first part, entitled The Enigma of Arrival in which Laszlo arrives in Philadelphia where his cousin Attila (Alessandro Nivola) meets and tells him the news that Laszlo’s wife Erzsebet (Felicity Jones) and Zsofia are alive through a letter as Laszlo would correspond with her as they continue to be stuck in Europe. In Philadelphia, Laszlo would work for Attila and his wife Audrey (Emma Laird) as the latter takes a disliking towards Laszlo as they sell furniture while also do renovation work where Attila is approached by a man in Harry Lee Van Buren (Joe Alwyn) about renovating a library for his father in the industrialist Harrison Lee Van Buren (Guy Pearce) as a surprise. Aiding Laszlo is the African single father Gordon (Isaach de Bankole) whom Laszlo befriended during a food line where they share a love for heroin which Laszlo uses for pain in his body only to become addicts. The first half of the film is set in the span of five years from 1947 to 1952 where Laszlo would later meet Harrison, who is impressed with what Laszlo has done as he wants him to create an ambitious project in tribute to his late mother.

The second half of the film entitled The Hardcore of Beauty is set from 1953 to 1960 when Erzsebet and Zsofia finally arrive in Doylestown, Pennsylvania where Laszlo lives and works, yet Laszlo is shocked that Erzsebet suffers from osteoporosis while Zsofia has become temporarily mute because of war. The second half would have Laszlo deal with Van Buren’s consultants who try to undermine what Laszlo wants with Erzsebet observing everything around her, including Van Buren, whom she sees as charming but does not find him to be trusting. Even as an accident would force Van Buren to scrap the project temporarily until a few years later where he asks Toth to travel to Italy to meet with a colleague of Toth in Orazio (Salvatore Sansone) who introduces him to a special kind of marble but things between Toth and Van Buren becomes troublesome. The script plays into the plight that immigrants go through in America with Erzsebet realizing that her husband is unraveling as she learns things about what happened to him while is also dealing with her own physical pain.

Corbet’s direction is immense in its overall presentation as it is shot in the VistaVision widescreen presentation for 35mm film and on various locations such as Venice, Italy for its epilogue with much of the film shot on location in Budapest along with other locations in Hungary and Italy with additional shots in New York City. The film plays into this air of post-war uncertainty as Corbet uses long tracking shots to play into Toth’s encounter with his surroundings as one of the first big shots of the film is Toth seeing the Statue of Liberty upside down. The shot symbolizes what Toth would expect throughout the film as he arrives in New York City as part of its prologue where the body of the film’s first half is set in Doylestown where he meets his cousin Attila. Corbet’s usage of wide and medium shots do help bring in the sense of space that plays into the world that Toth encounters whether it is at the Van Buren mansion or the building that Toth is creating for Van Buren. The wide shots also play into the landscape of Pennsylvania as it includes these exhilarating shots of cars, buses, and trains speeding in a long take. The last of which would be a key moment in the film’s second half where Toth’s relationship with Van Buren begins to falter.

Corbet would also play with aspect ratios as it plays into the creation of this building that Van Buren wants as well as scenes set in Italy where they meet Orazio for some marble as well as meeting people who were part of an anarchist group during World War II. It is a sequence that plays into many revelations about Van Buren who would also discover Toth’s own issues as it relates to his heroin addiction that would lead to a traumatic event for Toth. The second half when Erzsebet arrives as she is a woman that is defiant where Corbet uses some close-ups to play into a woman that has been through a lot of her own trauma while is also dealing with pain that Zsofia can sooth with some medication. The scenes where Erzsebet meeting with Van Buren are filled with ambiguity, including a shot of Harry walking behind Zsofia as it raises some questions that Erzsebet has about Van Buren. The film’s epilogue set in 1980 at Venice with Zsofia as an adult (Ariane Labed) as she talks about the journey that her uncle has taken into his work as it plays into the myths and misconceptions of the American dream with Toth being confronted with these truths. Even as he deals with things that are traumatic and what this building that he created really means to him. Overall, Corbet crafts as grand and evocative film about a Hungarian-Jewish immigrant’s desire for the American dream only to realize that is a myth.

Cinematographer Lol Crawley does incredible work with the film’s cinematography as its usage of the VistaVision format allows him to emphasize unique shots in the natural lighting for some of the daytime exterior shots as well as some unique low-key and colorful lighting for the interior scenes at night as it is a highlight of the film. Editor David Janco does brilliant work with the editing with its stylish usage of montages that includes stock footage as well as some jump-cuts for some scenes as well as knowing when to cut for some of the long shots. Production designer Judy Becker, along with supervising art director Csaba Lodi plus set decorators Patricia Cuccia and Mercedesz Nagyvaradi, does tremendous work with the look of the Van Buren estate as well as the shop that Attila and Audrey run as well as the design of the building that Toth is building for Van Buren as it is another highlight of the film. Costume designer Kate Forbes does excellent work with the costumes from the expensive clothing that Van Buren and his family wear to the ragged clothes that Toth would wear during his time after being kicked out by Attila.

Hair/makeup designer Gemma Hoff does terrific work with the look of Toth in the bearded look he would have briefly to the hairstyles of the women including Maggie Van Buren with her hairstyle. Special effects supervisor Endre Korda and visual effects supervisor Artem Isaakyan do fantastic work with the visual effects for scenes that are set dressing such as a scene involving a train as well as the look of the building as it is getting built from afar. Sound designer Andy Neil and sound editor Steve Single do superb work with the sound in the way small things sound up close or from afar as well as the way construction machines sound from afar as it is among one of the highlights of the film.

The film’s music by Daniel Blumberg is phenomenal for its grand and sweeping music score with bombastic horn arrangements, discordant string arrangements, somber woodwinds, and themes that play into the sense of yearning and horror that includes an electronic piece for its epilogue with additional contributions by Vince Clarke. Music supervisor James A. Taylor does wonderful work cultivating a music soundtrack that features music from the 1950s and 1960s ranging from jazz music to pop music from the likes of Paul Anka and an electro-pop piece from the 80s by La Bionda.

The casting by Kristina Ederly and Cassandra Kulukundis is great as it feature some notable small roles from the duo of Charlie Esoko and Zephan Hanson Amissah as the younger and teenage version of Gordon’s son William, Benett Vilmanyi as Zsofia’s lover Binyamin in the film’s third act, Salvatore Sansone as Toth’s Italian friend Orazio who would show him the marble that he creates in Italy, Peter Polycarpou as Van Buren’s Jewish lawyer Michael Hoffman who would help get Erzsebet and Zsofia out of Europe, Maria Sand as Hoffman’s wife who is one of the few that is kind to Toth and his family, Michael Epp as an architectural consultant that Toth spars with, Jonathan Hyde as Van Buren’s contractor Leslie Woodrow who is baffled by what Toth wants in the construction of Van Buren’s building, and Ariane Labed as the older Zsofia in the 1980 epilogue where she makes a speech about her uncle’s work. Emma Laird is terrific as Attila’s wife Audrey who takes a disliking towards Toth believing that he is a nuisance as she makes a false accusation about him to Attila. Alessandro Nivola is superb as Toth’s cousin Attila who has assimilated into Catholicism as he helps Toth get a job only to kick him out due to the lie that Audrey made.

Isaach de Bankole is brilliant as Gordon as an African immigrant that Toth befriends as he would work closely with Toth where he also grounds him despite their heroin addiction which Gordon would later wean away from as he later becomes troubled by Toth’s erratic behavior late in the film. Stacy Martin is fantastic as Maggie Van Buren as Van Buren’s adult daughter who is the kindest of the Van Buren family as she is someone who manages the home while also doing whatever she can to help the Toths including a scene in the film involving Erzsebet. Joe Alwyn is excellent as Maggie’s twin brother Harry Lee, who is a slimy and entitled person that is hoping to win his father’s approval while also does a lot to make Toth uncomfortable as he also tries to seduce Zsofia into one scene that is filled with ambiguity. Raffey Cassidy is amazing in a dual role as Toth’s niece Zsofia who spends part of the film mute because of the war as a young woman that observes everything around her while she later regains her voice as she wants to move to Israel. Cassidy’s other role in the film is Zsofia’s daughter in the 1980 epilogue.

Guy Pearce is great as Harrison Lee Van Buren as a wealthy industrialist who is a powerful figure that hires Toth to create a community center in tribute to his mother where he deals with all sorts of things while wanting to own Toth in some way. Pearce has a sense of charm in his performance that is a cover for something sinister as a man that wants it all including Toth himself in the worst ways. Felicity Jones is tremendous as Erzsebet Toth as a Dachau Holocaust survivor who suffers from osteoporosis where Jones brings a subtle quality to a woman ravaged by a disease while she is also an observer into who Van Buren is and what he is doing to her husband. Jones also plays into this sense of restrained physicality as a woman that is suffering from a terrible disease yet her resilience to smell bullshit a mile away as her last scene in the film is one of terror and ferocity. Finally, there’s Adrien Brody in a spectacular performance as Laszlo Toth as a Holocaust survivor who goes to America hoping to reach the American Dream where Brody brings this gravitas of a man that has been through a lot yet is also hopeful until he endures a lot of obstacles and tribulations that would put him in dark places. Brody also maintains this sense of weariness in the many tribulations he endures as there is an anguish in what he brings as it is a career-defining performance from Brody.

The Brutalist is an outstanding film by Brady Corbet that features a sensational leading performance from Adrien Brody as well as top-notch supporting performances from Felicity Jones and Guy Pearce. Along with its ensemble cast, grand visual presentation, its study of ambition and the mythos of the American dream, and Daniel Blumberg’s evocative music score. It is a film that harkens back to legendary American epics as well as being this study of a man’s desire to reach the American Dream only to realize that it is a myth. In the end, The Brutalist is a magnificent film by Brady Corbet.

Brady Corbet Films: (The Childhood of a Leader) – Vox Lux

© thevoid99 2025

Women's Tales IV

 

The Wedding Singer’s Daughter (Haifaa Al-Mansour) is set in 1980s Saudi Arabia as a wedding singer is performing at a wedding until her microphone goes dead prompting her daughter to find out what is going on. Especially as the bride and groom are set to enter the room as the young girl finds out what had happened to save her mother from embarrassment. It is a short that is definitely filled with a lot of charm as well as a sense of innocence as it has a sense of style told by Haifaa Al-Mansour that also has women wearing beautiful clothing in that world of the Middle East.



Shako Mako (Hailey Gates) revolves around a young actress who is working on a movie where she plays a young woman in Arab country whose town is destroyed by a bomb as she ponders the kind of roles she is playing. Even as she is also involved with the casting and such while is eager to break out from the roles she constantly plays as she even does an audition while on location. It is a film with an uneven narrative but it is still an excellent one thanks to a great leading performance from Alia Shawkat.



Brigitte (Lynne Ramsay) is a documentary short film about the photographer Brigitte Lacombe as she is filmed in black-and-white by Lynne Ramsay who captures Lacombe at work. The 30-minute short is among one of the longer shorts in the anthology series as it explore Lacombe’s methods in her photography as well as Ramsay being photographed. Adding to the brilliance of the film is the layered sound design that is a common element of Ramsay’s short films with a lot of these models wearing the Miu Miu clothes as it is one of the top tier shorts of the series.



Nightwalk (Malgorzata Szumowska) is about two different young people in Raffey Cassidy and Filip Rutkowski who play these young people stuck in their respective genders through the clothes they wear. The former is wearing a designer gown while the other is wearing a track suit as they walk out of their homes into the night stripping away the identity they’re forced to be as they become who they want to really be. It is largely a silent film of sorts with music being the dominant soundtrack yet the short does manage to have a great climax as these two young people would meet and embrace who they really are.



In My Room (Mati Diop) has director Mati Diop in her home apartment near Paris during the COVID-19 pandemic as she deals with her ailing grandmother who is living far from Paris as well as being unable to make something outside of her apartment. It is a phenomenal short that has Diop wear Miu Miu dresses and such to deal with her isolation while lip-syncing to opera music as a way to cope with her grandmother’s impending passing and being alone. Diop would serve as the film’s cinematographer where she would also shoot at the world around her including inside where she does mundane things while writing to Miu Miu about her situation as it is definitely one of the best shorts of the series.



Related: Part I - Part II - Part III - Part V

© thevoid99 2023

Vox Lux

Written and directed by Brady Corbet from a story by Corbet and Mona Fastvold, Vox Lux is the story of a pop singer trying to get her career back on track while dealing her past that included her response to a school shooting that prompted her and her sister to write a song. The film is a study of a woman dealing with stardom and the craziness of it while trying to be a mother to a teenage daughter. Starring Natalie Portman, Jude Law, Stacy Martin, Raffey Cassidy, Jennifer Ehle, Christopher Abbott, and narration by Willem Dafoe. Vox Lux is a riveting yet haunting film from Brady Corbet.

After surviving a school shooting that left her nearly paralyzed and force her to wear a neck brace for the rest of her life, a young girl writes a song with her sister in response to what happened as it would later make her into a pop star where she later struggles with the demands of stardom and motherhood as an adult. It’s a film that is essentially a character study of sorts that showcases this young woman who has been affected by tragedy as she tries to comprehend what had happened. Brady Corbet’s screenplay has an unusual structure in its study of Celeste Montgomery (Natalie Portman) from the time she was a teenage girl (Raffey Cassidy) who created a song with her older sister Eleanor (Stacy Martin) and then becoming a young pop star to being a major pop star who has become full of herself.

The film’s narration by Willem Dafoe provide some context into what Celeste would deal with but also events that would cause trouble in making Celeste lose touch with aspects of reality. Even in the film’s second act where she’s an adult with a teenage daughter in Albertine (Raffey Cassidy) just as she’s about to release a new album and launch a new tour. Yet, there’s still a lot of issues that Celeste is dealing with while is becoming more problematic while being estranged towards her older sister who has been taking care of Albertine. All of the drama as well as chaos that surrounds Celeste forces her to say things through her music although scandals and her own actions are starting to overshadow the music at a time when branding and image becomes more important.

Corbet’s direction is entrancing for his approach into telling the story of a young pop star’s life and her emergence into adulthood as it is shot on various locations with much of the film’s second half shot in New York City and nearby areas. While there are some wide shots of the locations and the film’s climatic concert sequence, much of Corbet’s direction emphasizes on medium shots and close-ups along with home movie video footage. The home movie footage that include Dafoe’s narration play into the innocence that the young Celeste and Eleanor endured where the former is to be signed with Eleanor on board as not just as a songwriter but also someone who is watching over the young Celeste. There’s a looseness to those moments in the home movie footage where the sisters travel to New York City and later Stockholm and London to make Celeste’s debut album with their manager (Jude Law) as it would later devolve into craziness. There are a lot of tracking shots and long-takes such as an early scene of the school shooting where it’s sudden and visceral in its execution.

When the film shifts towards the second half as it is set more than 15 years after the events where the young Celeste is making her first album. The film does have a different tone where does feel more polished in its camera movements and compositions. Most notably a diner scene between Celeste and Albertine as they talk where the former goes off on the diner’s manager all because he politely asked for a picture. The climatic concert scene that includes choreography by Benjamin Millipied is definitely extravagant yet it also play into this persona that Celeste has created as a way to escape from the horrors of the world despite the fact that she is indirectly connected to a recent event of violence. Still, it does reinforce the role of the pop singer and how they use music to heal despite their own flaws and artificial world they live in. Overall, Corbet crafts an evocative yet harrowing film about the tumultuous life of a pop singer.

Cinematographer Lol Crawley does excellent work with the film’s cinematography as it is largely straightforward in terms of the visuals with some unique lighting for some of the interiors as well as the film’s climatic concert scene. Editor Matthew Hannam does fantastic work with the editing as it utilizes a few jump-cuts and montages with the latter for the home movie footage. Production designer Sam Lisenco, with set decorators Kendall Anderson and Olivia Peebles plus art director Julia Heymans, does brilliant work with the look of Celeste’s stage set as well as the scenes in the school and at Stockholm such as the recording studio and hotel rooms. Costume designer Keri Langerman does amazing work with the look of the clothes that the adult Celeste would wear that would play into this larger-than-life persona as well as be this idea of cool while everyone else looks a bit casual with Albertine sort of dressed up as a Goth.

Visual effects supervisor Asaf Yeger does nice work with some of the visual effects as it’s mainly set-dressing for some parts of the film including exteriors of 2000-2001 NYC. Sound designer Leslie Shatz does superb work with the sound in creating some effective sound mixes such as the sounds of gunshots as well as how music sounds in a venue or the atmosphere of a hotel room. The film’s music by Scott Walker is wonderful for its usage of ambient and classical-based pieces that help play into the drama while the original songs by Sia are effective and catchy as its approach to electro-pop have something that is engaging with the rest of the music soundtrack by music supervisor Margaret Yen include a couple of tracks by Sunrise in the Desert.

The casting by Cassandra Kulukundis is incredible as it feature some notable small roles from Matt Servitto and Meg Gibson as Celeste and Eleanor’s parents, Maria Dizzia as Celeste’s music teacher early in the film, Daniel London as a preacher early in the film, Leslie Silva as Celeste’s stylist, Micheal Richardson as a musician the young Celeste meets in Europe, and Christopher Abbott as a journalist who interviews the older Celeste and eventually piss her off. Jennifer Ehle is fantastic as Celeste’s publicist Josie who is trying to ensure Celeste’s career is going well as well as being realistic to the point that she is also protective of her during the latter parts of Celeste’s career. Jude Law is excellent as Celeste’s manager as a man who would handle the business aspects of Celeste’s career but also try and get her to be reasonable later on while he would unknowingly help cause the rift between Celeste and Eleanor.

Stacy Martin is brilliant as Eleanor as Celeste’s older sister who would be her collaborator in writing the songs they create as well as introduce her to all sorts of things that would later play into their rift with Martin displaying a restraint as someone who feels mistreated by the person she’s caring for. Raffey Cassidy is great in a dual role as the young Celeste and Celeste’s daughter Albertine where Cassidy displays an innocence and charm as the younger Celeste who is also aware of what happened to her and the need to connect which would be something Cassidy would delve into as Albertine as a young girl trying to understand her mother’s state of mind. Finally, there’s Natalie Portman in a spectacular performance as the older Celeste Montgomery as a pop star that is trying to make a comeback with a new album and tour where Portman is unleashed in displaying someone who can really bitchy and mean but also someone who is quite fragile as she needs to escape from the realities of celebrity by just singing as it’s a tour-de-force performance from Portman.

Vox Lux is a sensational film from Brady Corbet that features tremendous performances from Natalie Portman and Raffey Cassidy. Along with its supporting cast, study of trauma and escape, and an incredible music soundtrack from Scott Walker and Sia. It’s a film that explore the mind-set of a pop star who has been affected by tragedy forcing her to create a bubble that disconnects itself with reality with music being her saving grace. In the end, Vox Lux is a phenomenal film from Brady Corbet.

Brady Corbet Films: (The Childhood of a Leader) - The Brutalist

© thevoid99 2018