Words by Zak Wheelan

Director Brady Corbet’s film is an enthralling piece of fictitious storytelling that easily feels like a biopic.

The Brutalist dives deep into the aesthetics of brutalist architecture, the immigrant experience, and one man's first encounter with America. It’s a brilliant, slow-paced film about an architect who flees post-war Europe in 1947. The story explores the struggles of rebuilding a career and a legacy, and what a man must endure to achieve both. Balancing themes of nationality, trauma, ambition, and restoration, the film tells the tale of László Toth—a Jewish Hungarian Bauhaus graduate—played by Adrien Brody.

László is haunted by the horrors of the Second World War. His inner turmoil contradicts his outward persona, yet it seeps into his work. He finds a powerful patron in Harrison Lee Van Buren Sr., played by Guy Pearce. Harrison sees László as a visionary—a celebrity in the world of architecture. However, as their relationship unfolds, it’s tested by László’s brilliance and his heroin addiction. All the while, László is still waiting for his wife to arrive and him.

Harrison commissions László to design the Van Buren Institute, a grand complex that serves as a memorial to Harrison’s mother. The structure is to include a library, theatre, gym, and chapel. Harrison envisions something modern with a sincere Christian outlook. László agrees—but interprets the project through his own brutalist lens. The result is a set of cathedral-like blueprints that merge raw, personal expression with the patron’s expectations.

The term “Brutalist” comes from the French béton brut, meaning “raw concrete.” This film is just as raw—honest, sincere, and deeply reflective. It delicately navigates the experience of being both an artist and an immigrant, of processing trauma through a relentless and obsessive creative vision.

Watch more powerful films like The Brutalist at Spazju Kreattiv: kreattivita.org/