41/24
Brutalist is full of surprises
Tale
When visionary architect László Toth and his wife Erzsébete flee post-war Europe in 1947 to rebuild their heritage and witness the birth of modern America, their lives are changed forever by a mysterious and wealthy client. IMDb editor Arno Kazarian offers quick solutions. 12 films he screened at the 2024 New York Film Festival, including Anora and the dangerous, strangely erotic Misericordia.. Laszlo Toth was also the name of the man who vandalized Michelangelo’s Pietà with a hammer.
the horrors of World War II
. The characters are not what you expect – not in the Scooby Doo ending way, but in the more subtle, gradual ways that real people discover themselves – they reveal themselves over time, in a new context, or forced by circumstance. Adrien Brody Laszlo, a Jewish architect who escaped the clutches of bloody Europe, finds himself in the welcoming arms of America. Or face them – in the insane opening sequence that heralds the literal birth of the Statue of Liberty.
What is the lesson?
He becomes a journey in which he constantly navigates life’s great variety of horrors—existential, professional, interpersonal, intimate—never taking his eyes off the grand prize of achievement and never underestimating the value of that prize. Is it the embarrassing discovery that his success was born not in spite of his injury, but because of it? Are we to blame for the abuse? To the forces of culture, state, power and those who use it to shape our brutal legacy?
But there is no novel
Is the gasoline in our lives burned on the way to a place more meaningful? The movie is adorable, cool looking, and not boring (did you hear it was long?). It seems to be based on a mysterious old novel, an article I’d love to have for some of the details the movie refuses to share. And any greater understanding of László’s arrival, his family’s machinations, his country and rootless roots, good and bad, is up to us. Autumn.
