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Much of the discussion of this film seems to be around its length. The run time is technically three hours and thirty five minutes but there is also an interval that is part of the reel (as it were) so it is actually fifteen minutes longer than that. It you were to go in for the ads and trailers as well (which I chose definitely not to for this one) then the program plays for four and a quarter hours. I did value it but there is an argument for whether it needs the break in the middle or not. Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon is only five minutes shorter and that just ran through without the pause. The fact is though, having it is a talking point and I suspect there might be something in the thinking behind it that knows it’s a valuable gimmick. Does The Brutalist need to be this long? Oh my God, no! It certainly makes it the subject of conversation though. 

There are of course other things to talk about with this movie but actually none of them are as exceptional. It is beautifully shot and gets wonderfully creative with its camera angles, and it has outstanding performances. As you would expect it feels pretty epic too. It isn’t groundbreaking though and there other films on the Oscar ballot this year, like Emilia Pérez and The Substance, that feel bolder,. For me the length was an issue. It is the kind of movie where if a man walks up two flights of stairs then the camera will watch him take every step and there are scenes that we could have lost without much sacrifice. It did feel indulgent and my lack of patience with it affected my enjoyment of the second half. 

Here is the thing though. It turns out that I didn’t need two hundred and fifteen minutes to appreciate this movie, I actually needed longer. It may well be because it was late, and I was tired and over an hour away from home but at the time the running time was a distraction. This morning though, I wake up and think about it without this factors and I realise it was brilliant. I still rate those other movies I mentioned more but there are parts of The Brutalist that, in the literal cold light of day, blew me away. 

The story follows fictional Jewish architect and designer László Tóth as he leaves Hungary after the Holocaust to find his way in Philadelphia. Initially getting work in his cousin’s furniture business he then comes under the patronage of a wealthy businessman, while hoping to be reunited with his wife and niece who were separated from him in the death camps. The portrayal of someone trying to rebuild his life after unimaginable trauma is powerfully vivid and Adrian Brody gets totally lost in the character. 

There are some really emotional moments that are landing with me now where they didn’t last night. Tóth is simultaneously a man being rebuilt and destroyed, both by others and by himself and it fascinating. The whole thing is also a compelling portrait of a passionate visionary, walking and often tripping over the line between being great artist and an obstinate obsessive. The focus on a twisted capitalist America and its relationship with immigrants is also very interesting given the current climate. What we have here is a country that purports to give refuge to those in need but thinly hides a very different truth, which is very timely.

This last aspect is played out in the relationship between Tóth and Guy Pearce’s rich benefactor, and it is in this that the movie finds its true strength. Pearce is so good in the role and I am pleased to see him nominated for awards alongside side Brody. The way the two men are around one another progresses in fascinating ways, sometimes subtle, sometimes not, sometimes surprising, sometimes upsetting, and together they are an effective metaphor for Trump and his attitude toward the multicultural US citizenship. It is the way this part of the movie resolves that I have come to most admire. I so liked the way the film shows that Pearce’s power plays ultimately and quite literally reduce him to nothing. This comes after a final move not from László but from his wife Erzsébet, played by Felicity Jones (also recognised by the Academy), which brings a nice moment for a woman at the end this largely male centric narrative as well, and is an element that carries on through to the coda.

What this whole episode with Tóth and Pearce’s Harrison Van Buren highlights is where the movie chooses to give you information and where it doesn’t, which you’ll best understand once you’ve seen the film. At the end you start making connections and filling in plot details around the denouement and you realise (if not immediately then a day later) that you can do this all the way through. Like the structure’s Tóth designs and builds, the empty spaces are as important as those that are filled. 

My advice then is yes, you should give The Brutalist the thing it most demands; 

a bit of time.

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