This ambitious American epic could be the best film of 2024

It’s easy for a movie to get overhyped during the fall festival season. Every year, at least one film seems to receive rave early reactions at festivals like Venice and Telluride, only to garner little more than disappointment from the general public. The Brutalistthrough no fault of its own, it apparently has all the tools to be one of those films. The film came out of nowhere when it premiered at the Venice International Film Festival in early September, but was quickly hailed as a modern masterpiece by many and soon began to receive comparisons to iconic and unparalleled classics like now The Godfather i There will be blood.

As if that wasn’t enough, there have already been a lot to talk about what a technical success The Brutalist is Not only is it 3 hours and 35 minutes long (including the obligatory and well-timed 15-minute intermission), but it was also made with camera technology from the 1940s and 1950s. It is, above all, the first Northern film -American that was shot in VistaVision, a 35 mm film format abandoned since 1961. One-eyed Jacks. All of this is now known in certain cinephile circles, and there have even been viral posts on social media about how heavy their 70mm film reels weigh.

There’s a fine line between positive hype and the kind that makes a movie flop, and most would seem to The Brutalist he had almost immediately crossed that line. Having recently attended the film’s West Coast premiere at this year’s Beyond Fest in Los Angeles, however, I’m confident in saying that their initial reactions were, if a little over the top in their comparisons and superlatives, mostly justified. The Brutalist is an epic in every sense of the word, and could be the best movie of 2024.

A mid-century American epic

It’s not easy to make a proper era epic these days. For numerous reasons, Hollywood’s interest in financing ambitious adult dramas like The Brutalist has fallen dramatically in the last 20 or 30 years. Despite this, The Brutalist has emerged as a compelling and fully formed mid-century American epic. Set in the immediate aftermath of World War II, the film follows László Tóth (Adrien Brody), a Hungarian Jewish architect who immigrates to America after barely surviving the Holocaust. The film covers about 30 years of László’s life, but focuses mainly on his decade-long effort to finish a strange and ambitious building in Pennsylvania for Harrison Lee Van Buren (Guy Pearce), a millionaire who he quickly recognizes László’s talent and wishes to possess it in any way he can.

It is in the relationship of László and Harrison that The Brutalistthe first comparisons with There will be blood feel the fittest. Just as the characters of Daniel Day-Lewis and Paul Dano in the latter film function as a metaphor for the relationship between capitalism and religion in American history, The BrutalistThe central dynamic of ‘s allows him to explore the timeless link and battle between art and commerce. Brody’s László wants to simultaneously practice his art and exorcise some of the demons of his past, but to do so he must accept Harrison’s funding and the sense of ownership the millionaire believes he bestows on László.

The Brutalist is a long film that never overstays its welcome

The journey of the two characters together is drawn methodically The Brutalistwho has the patience to let the toxic cracks in László and Harrison’s seemingly amicable bond begin to show organically instead of exposing them all from the start. Director Brady Corbett (Voc luxury, The childhood of a leader) relies on Pearce and Brody to fill the gaps left open by his and co-writer Mona Fastvold’s script, and his faith in his stars is not misplaced. Pearce and Brody are amazing opposite each other here. The latter turns into one of his career-best performances as László, with his stillness in the frame communicating a level of exhaustion and pain that The Brutalist only occasionally does it bring the real surface of its history. Pearce, meanwhile, is as sharp, commanding and charismatic as he’s ever been. His performance is of titanic proportions and ranks right up there with Brody’s as one of the best you’ll see this year.

Although you feel the length of the film when it ends, The Brutalist it is, to its credit, never a problem to overcome. It’s well-paced and, thanks to Corbet and Fastvold’s shared sense of humor, much funnier than anyone would reasonably expect. The film features some of the most surprisingly funny dialogue exchanges of the year and the delicate sprinkling of comedy throughout The Brutalist prevent sadness from becoming numb. Corbet and cinematographer Lol Crawley’s decision to shoot the film in VistaVision and with cameras designed for that format also pays off. It looks and feels authentic to its American backdrop of the 1940s and 1950s because it was made with technology from that era, ie The Brutalist manages to achieve a truly impressive level of immersion, especially considering the film’s alleged $6 million budget.

The best movie of 2024?

Only time will tell if or not The Brutalist is capable of securing the kind of revered place in film history as the films to which it has been compared by critics and festival-goers so far. But his ambitions are no less lofty than his influences, and he has the range, the style, the elegance and, most important of all, the wit to say it well, and without exaggeration. Even more impressively, it is a film that endures and haunts. It demands your attention and consideration not only when you watch it, but in the hours and days following its credits.

Don’t be surprised if, like me, you wake up the next morning with certain images, expressions, cutouts and montages of The Brutalist still swirling in your mind. It’s a film of impeccable craft, timeless ideas, and rich, aching wells of emotion. It’s too early to definitively consider it the best film of 2024; there are still many other equally promising titles yet to be published. However, I hope to go back and reconsider all of his choices, especially the ones he makes in his final act, when I can.

For now, at least one thing seems clear. There are very few films this year that try to achieve as much as The BrutalistAnd it may turn out to be the case that no one is capable of not only saying and doing as much as he does, but doing it as forcefully as he does during its staggering 215 minutes.

The Brutalist opens in select theaters on December 20.