I get this e-mail on a regular basis. Now I'm wondering if it's antisemitism.
That's what resonated most with me in "The Brutalist." The subtle antisemitism. It's one thing if someone calls you a "kike." Says grossly antisemitic things to your face. But oftentimes there are comments that only a Jew can really decode.
You're too loud. You're not one of us.
That scene in "Radio Days," where everybody's talking over one another at the dinner table... That's how it is with Jews. Can sometimes be that way with non-Jews, but if you're a Jew at a Christian table and you don't know your place, know not to talk too loudly or too often, you're going to be bad-vibed.
Which is why the characters in "The Brutalist" want to move to Israel. To be with their own.
Don't conflate what is going on in Gaza with Judaism. For millennia the Jews have been the other, the root of all evil, and they know it. People will deny it, but that's usually because they've overlooked the signs, they're too busy fitting in.
Like Attila, who marries a Catholic and converts. He's trying to deny his heritage, to blend in, to succeed. After the Second World War a number of Jews did this. Then again, it's hard to do so if you have concentration camp tattoos on your forearm.
"The Brutalist" was even less commercially successful than "Anora." It made only $50 million and two-thirds of that was overseas. Meaning that despite all the press, all the awards hoopla, very few people saw it.
And I can't recommend that you do so. Because it's slow and long and doesn't pay off satisfactorily. At times when I was watching I thought it was akin to "The Master," albeit better.
However, if you're at all interested, start. If you hang in for fifteen minutes you'll get hooked. I thought this was another Holocaust film until I saw it. But really, it's about what happens after the war.
László Tóth emigrates to America after starting his architectural career in Budapest and being whisked off to Buchenwald. Attila is his sponsor in Philadelphia.
All the images are rich. You get the feel of the fifties. You see the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.
And speaking of the beginning (and the end!), "The Brutalist" has one of the most innovative title designs I've recently seen.
Anyway, Guy Pearce plays a self-made rich man named Harrison Lee Van Buren who ultimately becomes aware of László's rich architectural history in the old country and commissions him to build...
László is thrilled. And here comes another theme of the picture. László is an artist through and through. He's willing to invest his own money to see his building completed according to his vision. The contractor and the lightweight American architect want to cut corners and do it more cheaply. But László will have none of it.
And we don't only see this in architecture. It used to be prevalent in music, when the major labels had a stranglehold on production. And it's still part of the big time game. Get the company money and they're going to want a say, it's going to be right in the contract, it doesn't matter what you want, but what they decide. They are not artists, but they believe they know better. They might know money, at best, but not art. Artists have stood up for themselves from the beginning of time, and non-artists have had contempt for them for just as long. Artists are outsiders. It's inherent in the outlook. If you're me-too, just trying to fit in, you're not an artist.
And László throws a tantrum when things don't go his way. He's definitely over the line, self-destructive, but artists are passionate, not expedient, and it's hard for non-artists to understand this.
As for László's wife Erzsébet... She stands by László's side, will aid him in his endeavors, but will blow the whistle on him when he goes too far. She's a partner, and far from silent. Which is typical of Jewish women.
Attila's wife Audrey doesn't want László around. Turns out she wants to eradicate Attila's Jewish history, doesn't want László and what he brings in her life.
Now one incredible highlight of the film is when they go to Carrara, Italy to purchase marble. The visuals are staggering.
And there is incredible tension in "The Brutalist." You know something is coming, and you're not quite sure what it is. And then it does, but there is a lot of time left in the picture, and then comes the unexpected, more than once.
So...if your idea of a moviegoing experience is a light afternoon sitting in the dark eating popcorn while you go on a visual ride that you don't think about after the lights come up, "The Brutalist" is not for you.
If your expectations are sky high, believing you're about to see a veritable tour-de-force, "The Brutalist" is not for you either. There's little action. There's a lot of subtlety. And the film is more about emotions engendered in the viewer as opposed to raw story.
But if you decide to press play you will be rewarded, you will be made to think. Not that I'm sure non-Jews will get all of what I'm stating above. They will identify with the Van Burens more than the Tóths.
As for the performances, Adrien Brody is much more than his accent, which is utterly impeccable, you marvel that he can hold it for so long. And this is usually enough to be nominated for an Oscar, but in truth the performance supersedes the accent. Brody delivers angst and happiness and frustration, he deserves his Oscar.
Guy Pearce is always good, going back to his breakthrough role in "L.A. Confidential." It's hard to believe he's Australian, you know this guy, even if you've only been exposed to him once or twice.
As for Felicity Jones... She ultimately displays an inner strength that is palpable. She's nobody's patsy.
The rest of the performances are all good, but these leads are great.
Nobody wants to fund a movie like "The Brutalist," which is why it took seven years and ultimately only $10 million to make. There can't be a lot at risk. An original screenplay for a movie targeting adults? Who have a hard time getting off their rear ends to go to the theatre anyway? Never mind a bunch who only want positive experiences that leave them with a smile at the end of the flick.
It bugs me when people demand not only sunshine, but someone to root for. When someone tells me they hated everyone in the film it illustrates to me their horizons are narrow, because everybody is chiaroscuro, we've got likable traits and unlikable traits. No one is pure, no one is always upbeat, unless they're hiding parts of their personality.
So if you like a short trifle to get you through your evening, don't even start on "The Brutalist."
But if you want a film to affect you, if you want to be taken away to a whole 'nother world such that you forget your environs, if you want tension and issues of life...
Check it out.
P.S. It's on Max.
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