The Brutalist has received 10 Oscar nominations and is about an expert architect who is also a Hungarian-Jewish Holocaust survivor. The film smartly gives the impression that it’s based on a real person. A few scenes are exceptional and the cinematography, production design and background score all contribute to elevating the impact. But the film is very lengthy (202 minutes). It goes on and on and on needlessly, thereby testing the patience of the viewers. What also ruins the experience are censor cuts and the lack of subtitles. The latter poses a problem especially since the protagonist speaks in a Hungarian accent, which is difficult to comprehend at times. Adrien Brody is outstanding and gives a performance at par with The Pianist. Felicity Jones has a late entry but rocks the show in the second half. Guy Pearce is very impressive; all three deserve Oscar nominations. Joe Alwyn (Harry), Raffey Cassidy (Zsófia), Alessandro Nivola (Attila) and Isaach de Bankolé (Gordon) also put their best foot forward. All in all, The Brutalist fails to impress.
My rating – ** out of 5!