Brady Corbet directs Adrien Brody, Guy Pearce and Felicity Jones in this period saga following an émigré architect’s struggles to find work in post-war America.

Epic but intimate. A character study yet obtuse. Bristling with creative fervour and literary intent. You could never accuse a 215 minutes movie of biting off more than it can chew but Corbet’s admirable big swing certainly has a lot of aims and themes, many of which only truly emerge in the final half an hour. The first half “The Enigma of Arrival” is full of seductive, noble, optimistic struggle. That American Dream writ large, only pragmatically. Almost cynically, but not quite. “Part 2: The Hard Core of Beauty” is the grinding disillusionment, the crushing inevitability. It is harder to absorb on first viewing as, as some of Corbet’s intentions take true shape, they can feel… a bit on the nose after the more lyrical journey we have been on. Maybe we didn’t need some questions answered quite so bluntly, quite so obviously. Overall though this is really something special. Perfectly paced, beautifully filmed by Lol Crawley and with one of my favourite scores in a good long time… thank you Daniel Blumberg. Pearce and Jones do tremendous work with their complex characters and I would happily have spent another three hours plus in their abrasive company. Corbet builds on his enticing start with Childhood Of A Leader and Vox Lux to deliver his first truly great one. The Brutalist exists as such an exile among contemporary releases. Neither an algorithm dictated cash-in or the last indulgence from an old master. Set in the past, non genre, deeply intelligent, emotionally spellbinding. It gives me hope that someone might still tackle the unfilmed (and possibly “unfilmable”) favourites Mr Vertigo by Paul Auster or A Confederacy Of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole. If Corbet wanted to give either a punt I’d be very happy.

8

Perfect Double Bill: Now, now… Don’t Be Greedy!

I write regular features about live comedy for British Comedy Guide here https://www.comedy.co.uk/people/bobby_carroll/features/ and my own Substack https://substack.com/@edinburghlaughterbulletin