The Brutalist
This is an excellent, rich film in its construction and
acting. Adian Brody plays Lazlo Toth, a Holocaust survivor who immigrated to
America. He is also a renowned architect but unknown in America. When he is
discovered, he is shoveling coal in Pennsylvania. This is a tribute to the
immigrant journey. New home, start over.
Brody’s character, Lazlo, affords Brody a range of emotions
that he brilliantly performs. In the beginning, he is destitute, taking menial jobs
to survive. His performance conveys the pain of an artist denied his talent. His
fortune changes when he meets Harrison Lee Van Burn, played by Guy Pearce, a millionaire
who knows his talent. Their relationship is complicated. Lee Van Burn’s wealth gives
Lazlo a new opportunity to create architecture. Lee Van Burn assumes a superior
attitude because of his wealth, but he is no match for Lazlo’s talent. To
equalize this disparity, Lee Van Burn seeks to dominate Lazlo. The inequality
of social class underlies the film.
Guy Pearce gives a tour de force performance. His tense face
and clipped speech project his resentment of Lazlo’s talent; his wealth cannot compete.
Guy Pearce knows how to use his body ( 2000 film Memento), and here, his
posture is unbending, just like his character.
Felicity Jones is Lazlo’s wife Erzesbet, whom he had to
leave in Hungary after the war. Her performance is sublime. After meeting Lee
Van Burn and his dinner guests, they asked where she learned her English.
Oxford, she replied.
The rest of the cast is wonderful. The cinematography gives
the film a unique perspective.
n.b.-The term Brutalist refers to architecture as a
style of building that uses exposed materials and geometric shapes to create a
minimalist, angular, and bulky look. The term comes from the French word brut, which means "raw" or
"untreated
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