andy’s review published on Letterboxd:
"Nothing is of its own explanation. Is there a better description of a cube than that of its construction?"
man where to begin. seeing the golden globes and the brutalist win a bunch of awards made me torn because of how much i loved timothee in a complete unknown and think the dedication and undertaking of playing someone so revered and someone who isn’t supposed to be played so i felt he was snubbed. but having said that i needed to see the brutalist to be able to give a fair judgement. but having now seen it, the long runtime and all the discussion it has gotten feels like serious oscar’s bait to me. also brody already won an oscar for a similar role in the pianist (i haven’t seen it). but i just know that it is better than this movie for sure.
truly no preconceived notions about it, it was on the list to be seen already. it’s a mammoth piece of work at 3 hours and 35 mins. which really was only like 3 hours 20 with the intermission, which was good. but it’s not even really that long, and it doesn’t feel that long either, until you get to the last hour-ish. i literally felt 4/5 until that.
the first 2 hours are well put together, thoughtful i felt and not boring at all. a Jewish architect flees his home in search of a better life in america and finds that it’s not all it’s cracked up to be, then later on loses himself to his own ambitions and goals. adrien brody is great throughout, portraying hesitation, doubt, sadness, and later on ego that is part of his undoing. in these two hours we get that build up from lowly coal shoveler to back on his feet doing a grand project, his mark in america. who eventually is reunited with his wife (felicity jones) who was fantastic.
then we get to the one conflict which is a train of materials and supplies exploding, which isn’t really too much of a conflict at all as guy pearce’s character has a meltdown as he frequently does (he was also great) and laslow is fired from the project. only to be brought back on some years later. some other conflicts include drug use and a random rape scene? really caught me off guard, no idea how that played into it. and we never find out what happens to guy pearce’s character even though i guess it’s implied. laslow never really has a triumphant moment either, and is almost reduced to nothing as the film winds down.
there is an underlying tension present throughout the film even though you can’t put your finger on what it is, maybe the fact that everything in the story is so fickle and can crumble at any moment. i really liked the score though. it looks aesthetic while also maintaining a level of grit. maybe im too dumb for it all. i dont know, but what i do know is that i dont regret seeing it, i appreciate it anyway. brody was great, but timothee still has my vote.
