The Brutalist review | Brady Corbet’s magnum opus is well worth your time

the brutalist
Share this Article:

Brady Corbet has made his best film yet with an American epic about a Jewish refugee. Here’s our The Brutalist review. 


The Brutalist, Brady Corbet’s Cannes sensation, feels timely despite its post-World War II setting. Its take on the immigration experience, seen through the eyes of a Hungarian-Jewish architect, was always going to hit close to home to anyone who has abandoned their birth country in the search of a new life, but The Brutalist feels even more painfully real after the re-election of a certain US president. 

We first meet László Tóth (Adrien Brody) as he is arriving in New York. He can barely hold in his excitement as the Statue of Liberty towers over him. László is a kind, selfless man, but the longer he lives in America, the more that seems to change. 

We follow László through the years as he is taken under the wing of a wealthy businessman (Guy Pearce) who wants László to build him a community centre like no other. It’s a challenge that might make or break László as his life begins to crumble the deeper he falls into disenchantment about the land of freedom and home of the brave. The Brutalist begins as a rags-to-riches story, but soon morphs into something far more ambitious, complex and, indeed brutalising. 

the brutalist (1)
Credit: Universal Pictures

The Brutalist clocks in at a butt-numbing 215 minutes, with a 15-minute interval in between the first two chapters of the story. Yet, the movie never drags and despite some slight numbness in my backside, the time flew by. The story doesn’t necessarily introduce any new angles to being an immigrant in America, but Corbet’s storytelling is fluent and magnificently constructed. The classic themes of the story are strong enough to carry the film and László’s journey is profoundly affecting. 

A lot of The Brutalist’s effectiveness comes from its disarming honesty and vulnerability. Corbet’s filmmaking has a sense of grandeur, but this is ultimately a very intimate, humane picture about one man’s life and all of its ups and downs. The intermission in the middle of the film works to its favour, too. Not only is it your chance to go to the loo and stretch those legs, it also provides a break between the two, thematically different halves of the story. If only James Cameron was open to an intermission for his Avatar sequels…

Read more: Oscars 2025 | The nominations are in

For Adrien Brody, the role of László Tóth is a triumphant one. He digs into the imperfections and ambitions of the character with detail and care, crafting a believable portrait of an immigrant man, rather than a romanticised ideal. Brody is the carrying force in the film where people tend to otherwise come and go. The characters around László are rarely afforded much development, but then again, this isn’t their story. Guy Pearce also does some fine scenery chewing as Harrison and Felicity Jones lends the film some warmth as László’s wife. 

The Brutalist is bigger than just one man’s journey from idealism to the deep throes of depression and disappointment. It’s a story about America itself, a harsh criticism of what the country has perhaps always been, a place where dreams have an equal chance of dying as they do coming true. 

Despite all of its impressive elements, The Brutalist is not quite a homerun. The ending feels rushed and almost incomplete. I was still deeply invested in the story and as it came to a somewhat sudden end, it left me feeling a little empty. The Brutalist is an empathic piece of cinema, but the wobbly end leaves it just short of perfection. 

The Brutalist is in UK cinemas 24th January

Share this Article:

Related Stories

More like this