‘The Brutalist’ review: Adrien Brody is perfect in this riveting, mammoth epic

nypost.com:

Running time: 215 minutes. Rated R (strong sexual content, graphic nudity, rape, drug use and some language).In every sense, the extraordinary director Brady Corbet’s period drama about a Jewish architect who emigrates to the US after World War II is mammoth: its decadeslong story, titanic set pieces and, perhaps most of all, the headline-making runtime. “The Brutalist” lasts more than three and a half hours and includes an intermission — making it the first major movie to have an added break since 1982’s “Gandhi.” (Note that at some 70 mm screenings in New York, the interval goes on for nearly a half hour to allow for switching film parcels).

But don’t let the marathon length scare you away. Because parallel to its grand scale is its outstanding quality. As the year comes to a close, “The Brutalist” finally hands us the bewitching epic for adults that 2024 otherwise lacked.

Adrien Brody, doing some of his finest work since “The Pianist” 22 years ago, plays Laszlo Toth, a fictional Hungarian designer who arrives in America in the 1940s at the bottom rung of the social and professional ladder and gets dirt in his nails clawing his way to success while his personal life disintegrates.

The actor gives all of himself to the part, bringing to thrilling life the complex blueprint of a visionary, a puddle of tears, a tyrant, a wallflower, an addict, a singular talent and a sympathetic everyman.