Review: The Brutalist

10 March, 2025 William Eguizabal 0 Comments 1 category

Title: The Brutalist
MPA Rating: R
Director: Brady Corbet
Starring: Adrian Brody, Felicity Jones, Guy Pearce
Runtime: 3 hrs 34 mins

What It Is: László Tóth (Brody) is a Hungarian immigrant fleeing Nazi occupation in his homeland. As a Jewish man, staying behind is no longer an option. Separated from his wife, Erzsébet (Jones), he arrives in America alone. In another life, László was a highly sought-after architect. Now, he takes on the challenge of helping Harry Lee (Joe Alwyn) construct a new library for Harry’s incendiary father, Harrison (Pearce). This project could be the turning point that makes—or breaks—László’s American dream.

What We Think: Let’s start here: there’s a really good, really tight two-hour movie buried in this. There is no earthly reason this film needed to be 214 minutes long. In fact, the film itself practically tells you where the problem lies—the intermission. Everything after that point shifts in tone, and not for the better.

I enjoyed watching László’s journey. You could argue that capitalism and the American dream corrupt him, and that’s the intended lesson of the second half. But that perspective gets muddled, almost abandoned. Corbet ultimately betrays what he built so effectively in the film’s first half. I sort of understand why, but honestly, it completely pulled me out of the experience.

The giant in the room is Adrien Brody’s performance, which, in my opinion, deserved the win for Best Actor (whatever you thought of his speech notwithstanding). Felicity Jones, too, more than earned her Oscar for this. As for the actual winner, Zoe Saldaña… the less said, the better.

Our Grade: B+, Listen. Was this a really good film? Yes. But it’s as uneven as it gets. The performances are masterful, and the script is strong. Corbet clearly has a bright future behind the camera, and with this, he’s guaranteed that his next project will be whatever he wants it to be. That might not be a good thing. Someone should have reined in this damn runtime.

This film is not for everyone. It’s just too damn long.