‘The Brutalist’ review: The limits of architecture in building a new home

When eminent Hungarian architect and Nazi concentration camp survivor Laszlo Toth (Adrien Brody) arrives at New York City’s Ellis Island, the Statue of Liberty appears on the horizon – but it is inverted. Right from the get-go, Brady Corbet’s The Brutalist sets itself up as an epic about the American Dream that will be rich as well as strange.

Laszlo’s exhilaration at being alive and free is tempered by concern about his separation from his wife Erzsebet (Felicity Jones) and niece Zsofia (Raffey Cassidy). Despite his impressive credentials, Laszlo struggles to make a life for himself in his new adopted land. He seeks refuge with his cousin Attila (Alessandro Nivola) before meeting Harry (Joe Alwyn), the son of industrialist Harrison Van Buren (Guy Pearce).

Impressed by Laszlo’s Bauhaus school designs, Harrison commissions Laszlo to build a community centre. Harrison plays the role of the benefactor to the hilt, arranging for Erzsebet and Zsofia to emigrate too. They arrive to find Laszlo locked in a Faustian deal with Harrison. Suffering, betrayal and misunderstanding haunt Laszlo, whose only friend in America is the Black construction worker Gordon (Isaach de Bankole).

The Oscar-nominated film is a formidable, formally inventive exploration of the turbulence that undergirds beauty, symmetry and the act of…

Read more