水果派AV

His film, 鈥淭he Brutalist,鈥� was the year鈥檚 longest film, too, clocking in at nearly four hours.

While that may have been a bit too much for filmgoers, it should be more palatable now that the film鈥檚 on DVD. Complete with intermission (which could be your stopping point for a day), it鈥檚 like binging a miniseries.

Telling the story聽of architect Lazlo Toth (Brody) from his days in Europe to his new life in America, 鈥淭he Brutalist鈥� sends a touching message about working smarter, not harder.

Director Brady Corbet finds creative ways to capture the times, the people, the moments. He doesn鈥檛 just throw money at sets, costumes and special effects, he unearths unique ways to make the moments resonate.

While it鈥檚 one of the rare films today with an intermission, 鈥淭he Brutalist鈥� deserves it, giving us a moment to consider what we鈥檝e seen. The story follows Toth as he reinvents his life, first as a refugee, then, as a laborer.

How he makes it in a tough new world is only part of the journey. Family teaches him how he needs to behave and, quickly, he鈥檚 able to channel his design sense through a cousin鈥檚 furniture store. He butts up against relatives and others, then meets an industrialist (Guy Pearce) who is as brusque as anyone in the new country. When Look magazine raves about Toth鈥檚 work, the benefactor changes course and hires the quiet man to build a community center that challenges the architect鈥檚 skills.

Pearce is wonderful as the man who commissions someone else to give him vision. Today, those 鈥渕oney鈥� men think they鈥檙e the ones with the ideas; here, he openly cedes the reins and Toth delivers.

As Corbet covers the building process, we see the change in Toth, particularly when it means he can bring his family to the United States. He throws himself into the work (not unlike a composer with a deadline looming) and, in the process, educates others on various schools of design.

When Pearce鈥檚 Harrison Lee Van Buren Sr. insists on a chapel, Toth doesn鈥檛 resist but gives him something no one could have imagined. The imagery, alone, says something about his talent.

Because they鈥檙e worried about their father鈥檚 infatuation with the project (and the money it鈥檚 sucking away) Van Buren鈥檚 son (Joe Alwyn) and daughter (Stacy Martin) offer resistance. The son worries what this might mean for him and looks for his own way of controlling the situation.

Corbet, however, doesn鈥檛 just chronicle the creation of a masterpiece. He shows the work and negotiation that goes into its completion. Like the Medicis in Italy, the Van Burens want more than control.

In the film鈥檚 second half, Toth鈥檚 family arrives and presents another wrinkle 鈥� one that isn鈥檛 necessarily handled with a T-square and a hammer.

Corbet manages to weave plenty of political, social and religious upheaval throughout 鈥淭he Brutalist鈥� (which refers to his architectural style) but never insists you buy into his theories. This is very much one man鈥檚 journey (not unlike Vito Corleone鈥檚), influenced by the situations he encounters in life.

Brody is remarkable throughout the stages of Toth鈥檚 life. He conjures all the emotions and emerges with a full-bodied performance that makes you feel like you stood next to a man during the good and bad times.

Felicity Jones is affecting, too, as his wife but she has another agenda, one informed by the distance that separated them.

When the architect manages to produce what his benefactor wants 鈥� 鈥渟omething new,鈥� as he puts it 鈥� we can feel the sense of accomplishment.

Like Toth, Corbet has created something monumental 鈥� a piece of cinema that didn鈥檛 need hundreds of millions to produce, just a little ingenuity.