The Brutalist

[Pink Freud]

No movie should have to compete with my cats.

Nor for my attention vs. five dogs, two lovebirds, six cockatiels, and two macaws. It's a good thing I saw it yesterday in a movie theater; I doubt I'd have given it a full view at home.

But I'm glad I saw it, even though a film editor with a backbone was desperately needed. Even for a movie that long --- thank god for the countdown intermission --- I never got drowsy or disinterested. I can see why film critics are so impressed.

Just imagine if they'd gone ahead with this original cast, according to IMDb.com: The movie was first announced in 2020 with a cast consisting of Joel Edgerton, Marion Cotillard and Mark Rylance as the main characters, alongside Sebastian Stan, Vanessa Kirby, Stacy Martin, Isaach De Bankolé, Raffey Cassidy and Alessandro Nivola. After several delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic, half of the cast was replaced in 2022. Joel Edgerton, Marion Cotillard and Mark Rylance were replaced by Adrien Brody, Felicity Jones and Guy Pearce, respectively. While Stacy Martin, Isaach De Bankolé, Alessandro Nivola and Raffey Cassidy remained in the cast.

I'm surprised Felicity Jones got a BSA nom, given she doesn't even appear until after the intermission. Her final scene, making the great (BSA nom) Guy Pearce's powerful patron pay for his abuse, likely accounted for it.

Adrien Brody: Just engrave his name already on the Best Actor statuette. And please, lord, forgive that makeup lady on set who tried to remove his "prosthetic" nose. https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movie ... 236128222/ I don't blame her; that think looks like what an oilfield roughneck might use to pop open a 55-gallon drum.

Glenn Whipp of the L. A. Times reported on a Q&A round table with the director Brady Corbet, Brody, Pearce, and Jones: https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-a ... ons-ending

[Pink Freud]

Once you see this epic on such a grand scale it's difficult to imagine it was completed in only 33 days, mostly in Budapest, and on a budget of only $10 million. Look for Oscars for Directing, Set Design, Visual Effects, Cinematography, Lead Actor, Supporting Actor, etc.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/23/movi ... esign.html

And how about that marble quarry in Carrera? Seeing that natural marvel I was reminded of my day at the Getty Museum in L.A., 800 ft. above the 405, where the entire property seems laid out in 30-in. squares of Travertine limestone --- cut from some blocks 300-ft. thick --- direct from near Rome. https://www.concreteconstruction.net/pr ... visitors_o

[MikoTython]

There were elements of greatness in this film, but lordy the story took some ham-handed turns, serving up a cartoon character of a WASPy villain. They couldn't have found a more hackneyed way to flesh out the ptsd & antisemitism American Style, if that's what all that nonsense was in service of. The whole scenario with his cousin and wife didn't scan either.

America is rotten, she said. They should have gone to Israel, where the sky is not cloudy all day. And yet, they stayed and had a wonderful career (every bit of which is completely elided). What a crock. Ok, NOW American is rotten, but not in 1958, other than maybe some trouble getting into various country clubs and perhaps Harvard/Yale.

The problem here was the narrative - visually it was stunning. Brody was superb, as was Felicity Jones. Their AI-assisted accents didn't bother me a single bit. I'm not Hungarian, so wouldn't know the difference anyway.

I very much wanted to appreciate this film, came away disappointed at the deficiencies in the screenplay, which amounted to a harangue.

[Dicktar2023]

The AI assistance was only used in the spoken Hungarian, not the English dialogue. Which scans, because I thought Jones' accent was terrible.

[MikoTython]

The AI assistance was only used in the spoken Hungarian, not the English dialogue. Which scans, because I thought Jones' accent was terrible.

I was just goofing about the accents - my criticisms of the film go a lot deeper. Now that, thanks to PF, I know that this project was sat on for years, all the harder to justify its messed up characterization, development, conflict. I sound like Archie Bunker, I know, but was it America's problem he had a [shirt]ty 'Catholic' cousin and shiksa wife, went to work for a super-duper- (did I mention racist & antisemitic) evil rich guy ? Why, for example, would an internationally recognized architect choose to labor in obscurity for years as a draftsman - no one besides Mr. Evil would recognize his talent ? It seemed to me it was trying & convicting the US for the crimes of the holocaust, by proxy. Yeah, I took it as a big fat whine.

[MikoTython]

This is a strange film. If you go out to mrqe.com and peruse the critical reviews, its virtually all off the scale 5/5, A. But go to imdb and check out the average user reviews, you see a lot of those who have a far more measured critical assessment - there was something great about this film, but also deep flaws. A lot, myself included, seem to have the sense this was a great opportunity missed :

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8999762/re ... tt_ov_ql_2