The Brutalist
Directed by Brady CorbetEscaping post-war Europe, a visionary architect (Adrien Brody) arrives in America to rebuild his life. On his own in a strange new country, a wealthy industrialist recognizes his talent. But power and legacy come at a heavy cost...
The Brutalist Ratings & Reviews
- BradenFebruary 12, 2025Brady Corbet's The Brutalist is one of the most exciting features of the decade. This sweeping epic is helmed by Adrien Brody, who plays architect László Tóth - a Jewish immigrant trying to survive in Post-WW2 America. Exceptional art direction, beautiful cinematography, a commanding soundtrack and wonderful performances from Brody, Pearce and Felicity Jones make The Brutalist a must-watch for any fan of the medium. While I have a few qualms with the third act, as a whole - I thoroughly enjoyed The Brutalist - no doubt improved upon by the 35mm print screening and 15 minute intermission. Movies are awesome!
- slim332January 4, 2026Watched an hour of this thinking it was Avatar. Had to look online to find out Avatar is blue. I enjoyed the hour I watched. Edit Not watched Avatar yet.
- Joe GDecember 21, 2025This was a film avoided for a long time. There was little desire to engage with it, largely due to exhaustion with stories built around antisemitism—subjects too often presented to extract emotion rather than understanding, reduced to something bordering on emotional indulgence. Perhaps going in with expectations that low allowed the film to overdeliver. Everything about this film reflects how movies should be made. It shows rather than tells. The story unfolds through scenes and interactions that quietly but decisively communicate theme and purpose. There are almost no explicit statements of feeling or intention; instead, meaning emerges through behavior, environment, and implication. The deeper truths are never announced, only suggested—and they are harsher for it. The music sustains engagement throughout, doing what so many films strain to achieve and fail at. This is not a biopic, nor is it simply a film about postwar antisemitism. It’s difficult to reduce it to a single subject. It is about creation, survival, humanity, immigration, and class—about what it means to endure and build in a world that resists both. There may never be a more beautifully shot film. That is its undeniable center. Every frame is composed with intention and care; nothing feels careless or incidental. This is what cinema used to be, and what it is still capable of being—a masterclass in visual storytelling, in translating words and ideas into images that do the work on their own. The ending is the lone exception. It is the only moment where the film directly tells the audience what to think. While the clarity is appreciated, the shift feels abrupt, as if that final statement is placed on top of the film rather than emerging organically from it.
- EFCIDIA Media ServerMarch 21, 2025I went into The Brutalist expecting something at least interesting. The premise had potential, and the early visuals hinted at a layered story. But as the movie progressed, any sense of intrigue slowly faded. By the time it ended, I didn’t feel connected, challenged, or even entertained. There was no emotional payoff, no lingering questions, no reason to hit play again. It’s not that it was bad—it just didn’t leave a mark. A film that promises depth but delivers a flat, forgettable experience.
- TanalienJanuary 30, 2025The Brutalist is about the American Dream, with an intermission that wisely divides two halves of the film which tell very different stories about America. If you stopped watching halfway through, you would walk out of the theater with a smile on your face. But if you wait until the end, you will leave with a strange feeling. It is a feeling that only arrives when a filmmaker tries to deconstruct one of our central beliefs. The American Dream is a fundamental reason for centuries of America’s success. Its mythology is central to the American identity, but what do we make of ultimate form? I will leave that for you to find out. Corbet has crafted an American epic in the same fashion as the great films of the twentieth century - on large-format film stock, with a thematic score, featuring some of the best actors of our time. In The Brutalist, he takes huge swings at a central pillar of our society - not with malicious intent, but with the wisdom of a filmmaker to ask questions of us. His film will live for a long time: What will be our reply?
- rg9400March 1, 2025The Brutalist is a fascinating movie, equal parts inspiring and frustrating. Told in two halfs split by an intermission, its runtime is almost 3 hours and 30 minutes, a staggering epic scale. The two halves feel almost like different movies. The first half is an intimate story, tightly centered on László Tóth as an immigrant and refugee who comes to America and finds an opportunity to showcase his architectural skills, a juxtaposition of a man searching for the American Dream while coming face to face with entrenched old money and American Capitalism. While this section of the movie could certainly have been edited down, it feels engrossing because the storytelling has a sense of clarity and purpose throughout, methodically building up the character and showcasing his ups and downs. There are moments where this sweeping and triumphant score will thunder over stunning imagery whether it be a montage, a tracking shot of a road, or strangely angled views of architectural marvels. From the opening sequence to one of the best title cards I have ever seen all the way to the intermission, I was fully convinced I was watching a modern classic. Then we get to the second half. To be honest, I still don't know how to fully talk about this portion of the movie. It introduces new characters, radically changing the dynamic of the movie so far. More importantly, it starts skipping across time compared to the much narrower focus. I almost want to say the movie starts to lose coherence. László's motivations start to feel more opaque. Where the first half of the movie seemed to be a case study in the immigrant experience, this half feels all together different. I was not expecting the movie to continue sort of its upward trajectory in terms of the story, but this feels far more of a jagged drop than a smooth crescendo and downfall, best represented by the score which shifts away from this staggering and thunderous style to something far more ominous. With roughly an hour left in the runtime, the movie has a bit of a time jump. This is when I feel it completely jumps off the rails. It suddenly becomes all about one event, an event that feels completely out of place in the context of the rest of the movie. After this happens, the entire story becomes centered around the aftermath of said event, and none of the characters, their relationships, or themes have a chance to reach their concluding parts. Indeed, Part 2 suddenly ends after this event reaches its peak, leaving me so utterly confused and baffled as to what the story was trying to do. It also has some troubling Zionist propaganda. Then the movie has an epilogue. And that epilogue is honestly brilliant. I loved it. It ends the movie by clarifying its thematic underpinnings, showcasing what it was trying to illustrate. However, this has absolutely nothing to do with The Event that I mentioned becomes the central focus of the last act of this movie. It's honestly so confusing to me because had the movie actually focused on what it is trying to say in its epilogue, I think it could have been a tour de force. To have it revealed what really motivated László Tóth after seeing how he approached his work for 3.5 hours...I get shivers how well it could have worked. Instead, the movie gets distracted and fails the landing. Throughout the movie though, the cinematography remains top tier despite the bloated runtime. Even in its confusing second half, you still get some scenes set in this stunning Italian mountainside that took my breath away. When the score hits against these scenes, I was floored. Adrien Brody and Guy Pearce are both fantastic, the former especially showcasing this vulnerability and stubbornness so effortlessly. This movie had everything going for it, so to see it come apart due to a single decision feels like I witnissed a crime. Maybe one day I will understand what director Brady Corbert was going for. At this point though, it just seems like a massive missed opportunity.
- Emil LavinenMay 3, 2025Brutal and realistic — those are the two words that best describe this film. The story is tightly written, carrying you through emotional highs and lows that still manage to surprise you. Even with its three-hour runtime, it remains dense and engaging throughout, in true A24 fashion. Visually, it’s stunning, with carefully composed shots and beautiful use of color. I’d definitely recommend it to any artist looking for inspiration.
- The Gutter MonkeyMarch 2, 2025I wanted to like it but it was very long, very boring, with a somewhat unlikable protagonist.
- Grant FitzsimmonsDecember 15, 2025Movie is ok but very slow moving.Adrian brody is fantastic actor but once again guy pearces supporting role get the movie to high reviews,but i didnt like his role in this one but to have a good hero in a movies you have to have a good villian.
- Kevin WardJuly 1, 2025The films structure and composition are themselves Brutalist—a massive imposing presence, blocky forms, exposing its functional and structural elements. Three and a half hour runtime, overture, chapters, intermission with countdown clock, epilogue, the bombastic score along with the massive emphatic opening title card featuring the “Filmed in Vistavision” text—Director Brady Corbet wants you to see all the elements of his monolithic construction. And with good reason—it is a sight to behold. —before I continue I want to add some context about my screening. I believe our theaters projection was not calibrated properly for the Vistavision format. Every second or so, you could see the red/green color separation outlines of the figures on screen. Mostly visible in brighter settings, but it was present throughout. It was honestly, pretty distracting at time. The film still looked rather stunning, but it’s hard for me properly comment on the look until I can see it with proper projection. Unfortunately, I’ll probably have to wait for my at home screener to see it again. If I’m not effusive about the visuals, though, that is likely why. — The Brutalist is anchored by stellar performances from Adrien Brody, Guy Pearce, and Felicity Jones. Brody shines as László Toth, a Hungarian architect who flees the horrors of the Holocaust, only to face the crushing realities of post-war America. Pearce delivers a chilling turn as a wealthy benefactor whose influence looms large over Toth's life, while Jones embodies resilience as László's steadfast wife, Erzsébet, in her greatest performance, to date. The film explores the collision of the American Dream with the harsh realities of the immigrant experience, weaving themes of perseverance, identity, and the insidious nature of anti-Semitism in 20th-century America. Toth's journey is marked by profound irony: having escaped the persecution that destroyed his family, he finds himself designing colossal structures for the very religion that once ostracized them (and still, perhaps, only “tolerates” them.) There’s much more to unpack from the film, thematically. Remarkably, I did not feel the runtime at all and I’m already looking forward to seeing it again soon. I want to wrestle with the ending a bit more. I didn’t love the epilogue, it felt a bit unnecessary, except that without it the end would have felt much more abrupt. But that may have been suited it’s brutalist structure. Regardless, the performances alone are worth checking out on the big screen. Note: There was a man in front of us watching the film by himself who got up and went to the restroom during the scenes taking place in Italy. I couldn’t help but wonder what he must’ve been thinking when the end of the movie hits.
- meekdopeAugust 30, 2025Very moving and beautiful cinematography. Be warned about rather disturbing scene at the end.
- Deep SanduneMarch 29, 2025Breathtaking cinema. One of the best films of the year, if not the best.
- Nader AhmedAugust 29, 20253 hours watching waiting for something to happen then an unfortunate disappointment in the end ,so then I wonder why this movie was made in the first place.
- tellumAugust 21, 2025Simply put the movie did not need to be this long, not even close. There was good acting, it was beautifully shot, and the story was good up to a point, but the meandering and the third act in general just made it too difficult to enjoy. There is a particular scene that served no purpose and seemed only to be for vulgar shock value, which also didn’t help.
- DEXAPLEXAugust 10, 2025A big great massively STUPID piece of absolute cinema.
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The Brutalist Trivia
The Brutalist was released on December 20, 2024.
The Brutalist was directed by Brady Corbet.
The Brutalist has a runtime of 3h 20m.
The Brutalist was produced by Nick Gordon, D.J. Gugenheim, Andrew Lauren, Trevor Matthews, Andrew Morrison, Brian Young, Brady Corbet.
The key characters in The Brutalist are László Tóth (Adrien Brody), Erzsébet Tóth (Felicity Jones), Harrison Lee Van Buren Sr (Guy Pearce).
The Brutalist is rated R.
The Brutalist is a Drama, History film.
The Brutalist has an audience rating of 7.9 out of 10.