Jordan Kaminski’s review published on Letterboxd:
70mm at TIFF Lightbox
For Toronto's 'premiere' theatre (only in name and content) it's truly a shame they don't have larger screens especially for events like this one.
(Note: Brutalist architecture has and will always suck, sounds cool though)
From the opening shot of this film you know it'll be something special. The scale Brady Corbet is able to bring into a rather intimate story is something to aspire to. From the score to the cinematography it gives off a feeling that can only be purely described as 'cinema'.
Adrien Brody is so lost in his character he really is one of the best of our generation and has these formative roles at least once a decade that remind us of that [The Thin Red Line (so good it was hidden), The Pianist, The Grand Budapest Hotel/Peaky Blinders, and now The Brutalist]. On the other hand Guy Pearce also gives an incredible performance as a larger than life awful Philadelphian bureaucrat, with great comedic timing, alongside his movie son Joe Alwyn who has the unfortunate trait of looking like the most smug fuck ever you only want to hate, and it helps his characters immensely.
The film is largely a character study on a post-holocaust life of a singular victim and how they cope with it. This becomes more clear as the film goes on. There are many subtleties in the writing and acting that elevate this including some I can see as being misunderstood, particularly in the third act (proven to me by what I overheard someone say leaving the theatre). It's upsetting that some will find ways to be offended or willfully misunderstand or ignore parts of discourse explored throughout the film to align with their own feelings.
My one issue is Corbet's decision on how to end the film. They way he did it I think works fine, however there is a revelation revealed that I think could've been more powerful if it were to be shown before 'Part 3' and/or through the perspective of Brody's character rather than a related figure.
I didn't really feel the films length at all, which was surprising. That was until the intermission where for me hurt the experience more than helped as it felt like it put a halt on the momentum, that's just me though.
Just good stuff all around
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