'The Brutalist' review: Epic and excellent, this toxic American dream is 2024's best movie

From the very beginning, “The Brutalist” doesn’t skimp on the majesty: A Holocaust survivor journeying on a ship to America and a new life looks up, smiling, to see the Statue of Liberty as trumpets blare. But his view revolves and Lady Liberty spins on screen, the first symbolic hint in this monumental epic that his version of the “American dream” will turn upside down.

"The Brutalist" is a toxic tale of the immigrant experience and a gripping narrative of love and hope tested through vice and struggle. Co-writer/director Brady Corbet’s brilliant drama (★★★★ out of four; rated R; in select theaters Friday, nationwide in January) features Adrien Brody playing a Hungarian-Jewish architect taken advantage of by those who laud him. A shoo-in for Oscar's best actor category, Brody leads a stellar cast through decades of a postwar America that promised to take in the “huddled masses” but never said anything about treating them right.

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In 1947, László Tóth (Brody) comes to the USA having survived a terrible trauma during World War II and forced separation from his wife Erzsébet (Felicity Jones), who’s being held at the Austria/Hungary border by Soviet soldiers with her niece Zsofia (Raffey Cassidy). László travels to Philadelphia and moves in with his cousin Attila (Alessandro Nivola) to help with his furniture business. A job goes south that sours their relationship but does put László’s talents on the radar of rich industrialist Harrison Lee Van Buren (Guy Pearce).

Having seen newspaper clippings of László’s Brutalist-style buildings and his work up close, Van Buren becomes so smitten that he commissions László to build an ambitious institute in a rural area outside Philly as a memorial to the wealthy man’s late mother. (While László is a fictional character, his experiences are inspired by key real-life figures of the Brutalist movement.) The gig checks László’s key boxes: a job to design a masterwork and an opportunity to reunite with his family.

However, as the movie moves into the 1950s, mutual resentment boils between László and the Americans around him, both elite and working class. They almost all look down on him and he, being an egotistical perfectionist, goes into a rage when everything isn’t to his specifications. “We tolerate you,” Harry (Joe Alwyn), Van Buren’s snake-in-the-grass son, hisses at the passionate builder.

And then there’s Van Buren himself, a temperamental boss who holds power over László whenever he can. In front of Erzsébet, Van Buren remarks upon her impressive English and cruelly quips that she should help her husband, “who sounds like he shines shoes for a wage,” before flinging a penny at him.

Brody is phenomenal navigating László’s emotional journey over several years, capturing the confidence of an artist who knows exactly what he wants as well as the insecure flaws of an individual distracted by drugs and women. (The character is an interesting counterpoint to Brody's Oscar-winning role as a surviving musician in the 2002 Holocaust drama "The Pianist.") “I suppose that inside, he worships at the altar of only himself,” Erzsébet says of her husband.

Jones is terrific as well, first appearing as a weak figure in a wheelchair thanks to osteoporosis and later finding new inner and outer strength when needed. Pearce devilishly counters his co-stars’ efforts with sheer, punchable antagonism – Van Buren is the absolute worst, a detestable menace and an apt metaphor for the modern mogul.

But the biggest breakthrough of “The Brutalist” is Corbet. For his third cinematic outing with co-writer/partner Mona Fastvold (after "The Childhood of a Leader" and "Vox Lux"), he has crafted a magnificent film with the sweeping scope of “The Godfather” and the dark idiosyncrasy of “There Will Be Blood.” The production design is incredible, and the sites (including a marble quarry in Italy) are stunning. Plus, you won’t hear anything better at the movies this year than Daniel Blumberg’s minimalistic score, with brassy themes matching the cinematic grandeur and a solo piano accompanying László’s more thoughtful internal moments.

Despite the lengthy runtime, there's no filler anywhere in “The Brutalist." Even the title screen during the built-in 15-minute intermission (a blessing in itself) is used as a plot point in this remarkably honest movie about our history and the human way we manage to create beauty out of tragedy.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 'The Brutalist' review: Adrien Brody stuns in powerful immigrant story