Thank you for the education in Brutalism. I grew up around the corner from the Bruer and still live near by and pass it often. I HATE it. As a child, it scared me to look at it. I didn't know why, it just did.
Great essay. My guide to the Holocaust is Primo Levi and I'm pretty sure he would have contempt for a movie about an architect modeling a building on a camp (or lager).
Yeah, I would hate to see a community center inspired by a *concentration camp*. Like, how awful vibes could you possibly get? A place for people to gather inspired by one of the most evil places on earth? I get the 'never again' bit but memorials are memorials and community centers are community centers. At least in theory the architecture is supposed to reflect the purpose of the building.
So many elements to this film!!! I am a furniture maker and probably could write a review focusing on the furniture… and by the way I really appreciated the architectural history.
I enjoyed the historical background and the ways you noted how the film distorts/ignores/incorporates it. But is the film any good? Does it do its filmic things badly, well, some of both? That I can’t tell
There were good things about the film, namely the acting and cinematography, and I'm glad I watched it a couple times. But the story could be improved upon so the accumulating traumas are not as overwrought.
This is the first article I've read about The Brutalist acknowledging that the title might actually be referring to a given architectural style or design (instead of to one or both of its two male leads' moral characters). I'm sure the ambiguity was intended by Corbet but most commentators failed to make this explicit or noted that the title was ambiguous.
So kudos to Megan for providing - and delineating - the required contexts.
I love your comment about Adrien Brody's eyebrows - I actually shared it with someone even before seeing that ugly comment. And I'm far from a pretentious undergrad (also nothing wrong with being a pretentious undergrad). I found your review very interesting and appreciate your take alongside the historical context.
I didn't think the movie was about architecture. I see this review as part of a pernicious trend in which everything is intellectualized to death. Roger Ebert often quoted another critic who said, "A man goes to the movies. The critic must admit that he is this man.”
Have you considered just writing about what it was like to see the movie instead of signaling how smart you are by talking about the history of brutalism? Which frankly, no one cares about. It's hard enough to write about movies, and probably even harder to write about architecture. Did you consider that you are biting off more than you could chew by doing both?
> Corbet barrages us with so much trauma throughout the film — adultery, poverty, betrayal, famine, rape, addiction, young children losing their mothers, disease, more rape, overdose, suicide, the woman who became mute because her pain was unspeakable
I thought the movie did an admirable job suggesting these things without beating us over the head with them. Certainly it did not feel like a barrage to me. That's why it worked. It showed characters who seem to not be dealing with trauma, seem to be running from it, but actually are dealing with it. This is revealed very bluntly in the last scene, but apparently not bluntly enough for some.
I deleted my follow-on comments, which I think were too mean and not constructive. I hope you will consider what I said in my original comment. I think if you focus more on fewer things, you will produce better work.
Agreed! Artists should take care not to go into much debt, since there are fewer high paying careers in our field. I'm fortunate that I had scholarships to cover the cost of my education.
Wow, this comment is quite rude. If you don't want to read someone reviewing a movie by contrasting it with their knowledge of historical brutalism, then by all means, go read an article that is more to your taste. There is no need to imply that the reviewer's motivation is to "signal how smart they are."
Personally, I found the historical details to be quite relevant, because they show the difference between historical truth and the story presented in the movie, and the implications for how we then perceive both architecture and history, as a culture. In my mind, this review highlights an example of "truthiness" as opposed to "truth", which is a relevant topic in every field these days.
Some people enjoy pointless classical allusions! Yes, it's slightly Victorian, but I found it humorous. She is describing something she found overwrought by using an overwrought phrase.
If you truly want to be constructive, there's no need to pick a fight or assume that people have bad intentions.
Thank you for the education in Brutalism. I grew up around the corner from the Bruer and still live near by and pass it often. I HATE it. As a child, it scared me to look at it. I didn't know why, it just did.
Great essay. My guide to the Holocaust is Primo Levi and I'm pretty sure he would have contempt for a movie about an architect modeling a building on a camp (or lager).
Oh dear, I'm raising my two children in the neighborhood too... they are fated to be terrorized by that building...
But you can prepare them. I was caught unaware!
Yeah, I would hate to see a community center inspired by a *concentration camp*. Like, how awful vibes could you possibly get? A place for people to gather inspired by one of the most evil places on earth? I get the 'never again' bit but memorials are memorials and community centers are community centers. At least in theory the architecture is supposed to reflect the purpose of the building.
So many elements to this film!!! I am a furniture maker and probably could write a review focusing on the furniture… and by the way I really appreciated the architectural history.
Do it!
I enjoyed the historical background and the ways you noted how the film distorts/ignores/incorporates it. But is the film any good? Does it do its filmic things badly, well, some of both? That I can’t tell
There were good things about the film, namely the acting and cinematography, and I'm glad I watched it a couple times. But the story could be improved upon so the accumulating traumas are not as overwrought.
This is the first article I've read about The Brutalist acknowledging that the title might actually be referring to a given architectural style or design (instead of to one or both of its two male leads' moral characters). I'm sure the ambiguity was intended by Corbet but most commentators failed to make this explicit or noted that the title was ambiguous.
So kudos to Megan for providing - and delineating - the required contexts.
Hmmm interesting.
I love your comment about Adrien Brody's eyebrows - I actually shared it with someone even before seeing that ugly comment. And I'm far from a pretentious undergrad (also nothing wrong with being a pretentious undergrad). I found your review very interesting and appreciate your take alongside the historical context.
Thank you so much! And why can't we have one itsy bitsy reference to a famous Greek myth? 🥲
I really need to see this film. Your review makes me wish to do it sooner rather than later. I hope Brody wins.
What a mean-spirited comment.
I didn't think the movie was about architecture. I see this review as part of a pernicious trend in which everything is intellectualized to death. Roger Ebert often quoted another critic who said, "A man goes to the movies. The critic must admit that he is this man.”
Have you considered just writing about what it was like to see the movie instead of signaling how smart you are by talking about the history of brutalism? Which frankly, no one cares about. It's hard enough to write about movies, and probably even harder to write about architecture. Did you consider that you are biting off more than you could chew by doing both?
> Corbet barrages us with so much trauma throughout the film — adultery, poverty, betrayal, famine, rape, addiction, young children losing their mothers, disease, more rape, overdose, suicide, the woman who became mute because her pain was unspeakable
I thought the movie did an admirable job suggesting these things without beating us over the head with them. Certainly it did not feel like a barrage to me. That's why it worked. It showed characters who seem to not be dealing with trauma, seem to be running from it, but actually are dealing with it. This is revealed very bluntly in the last scene, but apparently not bluntly enough for some.
It's worse than that! I tried to write about film, architecture, AND create an original drawing to imagine a deleted scene from the film. Whew.
I deleted my follow-on comments, which I think were too mean and not constructive. I hope you will consider what I said in my original comment. I think if you focus more on fewer things, you will produce better work.
Don't forget the Frankl block quote!
Agreed! Artists should take care not to go into much debt, since there are fewer high paying careers in our field. I'm fortunate that I had scholarships to cover the cost of my education.
Wow, this comment is quite rude. If you don't want to read someone reviewing a movie by contrasting it with their knowledge of historical brutalism, then by all means, go read an article that is more to your taste. There is no need to imply that the reviewer's motivation is to "signal how smart they are."
Personally, I found the historical details to be quite relevant, because they show the difference between historical truth and the story presented in the movie, and the implications for how we then perceive both architecture and history, as a culture. In my mind, this review highlights an example of "truthiness" as opposed to "truth", which is a relevant topic in every field these days.
Some people enjoy pointless classical allusions! Yes, it's slightly Victorian, but I found it humorous. She is describing something she found overwrought by using an overwrought phrase.
If you truly want to be constructive, there's no need to pick a fight or assume that people have bad intentions.
Hatred of pretension is the original pretension
The line about the cube is definitely in the top five most asinine lines from the film, only topped by the response.
Poor Guy Pierce, love his work, but he should have demanded rewrites.