Look I’m sorry to be a basic you-know-what but I just think, if your film is THREE HOURS AND THIRTY FIVE MINUTES long you have done something wrong. (Did somebody say ‘four part Netflix doco’? I sure wish they had.)
Escaping postwar Europe in 1947, visionary architect László Toth (Adrien Brody) moves to Pennsylvania USA to rebuild his life and career. There, wealthy and prominent industrialist Harrison Lee Van Buren (Guy Pearce) recognises his talent and hires Toth to work on cutting edge projects. Van Buren’s support, like his psyche, is … complex.
This film won Best Motion Picture - Drama at the recent Golden Globe awards which supports my theory that Hollywood rewards pretentious film-making. The film has so many threads to unravel - you don’t get to 3.5+ hours for nuthin’ - that it’s just all a bit much for me. I can’t in good conscience recommend you spend $25 of your hard-earned to see this, even if it stars Guy Pearce who I love enormously. (Mike Young forever! IYKYK!)
Are there great things about this film? Sure. But at this time of year when there’s so many excellent films out I just can’t get behind The Brutalist.