Hey film fans, Slick Dungeon here! With a massive running time of 3 hours and 35 minutes, The Brutalist is by far the longest of the Best Picture nominees this year. I’ll be reviewing this movie here so you can decide if it is worth an entire half day to watch.

What is The Brutalist about?

The film tells the story of a man named László Tóth played by Adrien Brody. He has survived the holocaust and made it to America to live with his cousin in Philadelphia. His wife and niece are also survivors but they are still in Europe at the start of the film. Tóth was an architect prior to the war and through his cousin he meets Harrison Lee Van Buren a wealthy American industrialist played by Guy Pearce. He is hired to complete an ambitious project but there are complications along the way.

The film is divided into two main parts, with an overture at the beginning, and an epilogue at the end added on. The first half of the story tells what happens when Tóth begins to work for Van Buren and tries to get his wife and niece to reunite with him in America. The second half shows what happens after Tóth’s wife and niece make it to America.

The overture, first and second parts of the film are beautiful and tragic all at once. The acting here is amazing and there is a reason three actors are nominated for the film. Hands down, this is Adrien Brody’s best work since The Pianist. And Guy Pearce is a surprisingly good supporting character. Felicity Jones also has a standout performance as Tóth’s wife.

But there is one major problem with the movie. The epilogue adds far more questions than it answers. It’s tonally different from the film and it never answers a huge question left at the very end of the second part of the movie. I would have been okay with an ambiguous ending but with the epilogue it feels to me like they didn’t complete the story. And it’s strange because the speech delivered in the epilogue is actually quite moving. It just feels like it skipped over way too much for the audience here.

Other than that, this is an amazing film. And it is worth watching for the acting alone. Just know you’ll need a heavy time commitment here.

The awards

This one is up for a whopping 10 Oscars. It’s up for Best Original Score, Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Supporting Actor, Best Original Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Film Editing, and Best Production Design.

Personally I don’t think this takes Best Picture. But I think Adrien Brody has a great chance to take Best Actor. He is phenomenal in it. And I think Guy Pearce and Felicity Jones both have good shots at their awards. This might be the best film editing, just for the sheer length of the movie. And I would not be surprised if it won best original screenplay. For the other categories though, I don’t think it’s likely although I could see Brady Corbet sneaking in for best director.

The Brutalist in conclusion

This is an amazing achievement in film. The acting is so good in this movie that the performances are a little jaw dropping. And it is an emotional roller coaster. But don’t be surprised if the last bit of it leaves you frustrated over threads left dangling. I won’t say don’t watch all the way to the end but the epilogue really does have some problems here.

If you watched this one, what did you think of the ending? Let me know in the comments!

Awardingly yours,

Slick Dungeon

P.S. Want to see what I thought of the Best Picture winner last year? Check out my review of Oppenheimer!