The Brutalist

Last week, I was lucky enough to attend a 70mm preview screening of The Brutalist at the BFI Southbank.

I first caught a glimpse of The Brutalist a few months ago during a trailer. At first, I assumed it was a documentary, having recently seen a film about Elliot Noyes. It wasn’t until the buzz around the film began to build that I realised it was a work of fiction.

The film was apparently shot in VistaVision, first introduced in the 1950s, where 35mm film is run horizontally rather than vertically. Instead of exposing two simultaneous four-perforation frames, the entire eight perforations are used for a single frame As someone who regularly attends digital screenings, I was curious to see how much of a difference the format would make. The best way I can describe it is like being at the optometrist, wearing those funny glasses while they switch between different lenses, asking, ‘Is it better like this or like this, like this or like this?’. Then, suddenly, the right lens clicks into place, bringing everything into focus. I have astigmatism and I’m short-sighted — so my analogy might only make sense to others with a similar affliction. It’s not that everything was simply sharper; it had a crisper depth of field, vivid colours and a tactile quality. The flickering of the 70mm projector, combined with the knowledge that someone was operating this massive piece of machinery, evoked 1950s cinema, and its rich colours perfectly complement the film’s portrayal of postwar America.

Without giving too much away (you’ve probably already heard the plot) the film, directed by Brady Corbet and co-written with his partner Mona Fastvold, centres on a Jewish Hungarian architect—a former student and Master of the Bauhaus in Dessau, Germany, who survives the Holocaust and emigrates to America after the War. It explores his struggles as an immigrant and architect navigating antisemitism, the horrors he endured during the War, capitalism, greed, and the power dynamics between artist and client. Here, Corbet undoubtedly drew from personal experience as a filmmaker, and certainly something I could relate to.

Although it’s not based on a true story, its roots stem from factual history—many Bauhauslers fled Nazi Germany to America (albeit in the 1930s), including Walter Gropius, Josef and Anni Albers, László Moholy-Nagy and Marcel Breuer. In fact, Corbet cites the memoir Marcel Breuer and a Committee of Twelve Plan a Church: A Monastic Memoir as inspiration for the film.

With excellent production design by Judy Becker, it’s clear she had great fun exploring and recreating the modernist furniture and architecture of the era. After arriving in America, László Tóth, played by Adrien Brody (surely an Oscar-winning performance?), lives and works at his cousin’s dated furniture store. There, he tries to introduce Modernism to small-town Pennsylvania by designing tubular steel furniture, including a chair that bears more than a passing resemblance to Breuer's iconic Cesca chair. Later, he creates a modern library for a wealthy industrialist — Harrison Lee Van Buren played by Guy Pearce. Tóth removes all the furniture in the vast room of Van Buren’s mansion and replaces it with built-in plywood bookshelves, whose doors cleverly open outward to act as louvres, shielding the books from sunlight when fully extended. At the centre stands a singular bespoke reclining chair, perfectly placed for Lee Van Buren to read his rare first-edition books.

The film’s central architectural project, however, is the Van Buren Institute—an imposing Brutalist community centre which includes a library, theatre, gymnasium, and, at the insistence of the largely Christian community, a chapel. The structure consists of bunker-like concrete masses with skylights that align at certain times of the day to form a cross in the dark, sparse interior. The architect’s struggle to fully realise his uncompromising vision serves as a powerful metaphor for his efforts to establish a lasting legacy in postwar America.

Tóth is portrayed as a solitary figure, grappling with the challenges of starting over in a new country, and if I was critical of the plausibility of the Bauhaus storyline, is to ask why he didn’t he seek out Gropius for help. For all its global influence, the Bauhaus was a small, tightly-knit community. After fleeing Germany, its members remained deeply connected, frequently collaborating and supporting one another.

After watching the film, I posted a story about it on Instagram. My inbox was flooded with messages asking, ‘Is it good? Is it worth seeing?’ I hate that binary way of judging films, which is why I go to the cinema on my own. The first thing people ask when they leave the cinema is, ‘What did you think?’ It really annoys me. I like to let the film sit with me. The Brutalist is a nuanced, layered piece of work that explores complex themes in a subtle, thought-provoking way. It’s 3½ hours long, and there’s a lot to unpack. Reducing it to ‘good’ or ‘bad’ is a lazy, swipe-left-or-right mentality. I will say, however, I didn’t once look at my watch.

Interestingly, two people DM’d me saying they didn’t enjoy it—and both had watched it at home. Coincidence? Perhaps, but this is not a film to watch on a small screen. Please, if you’re planning to see it, I urge you to go to the cinema. If you want to see it in a suitable venue, you could do worse than these cinemas:

Top tip: go and see it between lunch and dinner.

BFI SOUTHBANK

(originally National Film Theatre) Built: 1957 Grade: II Architect: Norman Engleback/LCC From Friday 24 January, playing on a 70mm film print alongside select digital screenings.

GLASGOW FILM THEATRE (GFT)

(originally Cosmo Cinema) Built: 1939 Grade: B Architect: James McKissack and WJ Anderson II

REX CINEMA

Built: 1938 Grade: II Architect: David Evelyn Nye

Ritzy Cinema

Built: 1910–1911 Grade: II Architect: E. C. Homer and Lucas

Curzon Mayfair Cinema

Built: 1963–1966 Grade: II Architect: H. G. Hammond for Sir John Burnet, Tait and Partners

Dominion Cinema (Edinburgh)

Built: 1938 Grade: B Architect: Thomas Bowhill Gibson

Barbican Centre

Built: 1982 Grade: II Architects: Chamberlin, Powell and Bon

Curzon Bloomsbury (The Brunswick)

Built: 1972 Grade: II* Architect: Patrick Hodgkinson

Rio Cinema (Dalston)

Built: 1915 (rebuilt in 1937) Grade: II Architect: Frank Ernest Bromige