After its amazing reception at Venice and Toronto, The Brutalist has been picked up for distribution by A24.
The Brutalist has immediately left its mark as a trying, heavy epic…so it’s really no shock that A24 has landed distribution rights. While no release date has been announced yet, the film will no doubt be headed into awards season in full force.
The Brutalist was a sensation at this year’s Venice Film Festival, garnering a 12-minute standing ovation and winning the Silver Lion, which goes to the film’s director, in this case Brady Corbet. Although originally known as an actor (notably giving a terrific performance in Michael Haneke’s Funny Games remake), Corbet has been making his mark behind the camera. He co-wrote The Brutalist with longtime partner Mona Fastvold.
Here is the film’s plot: “The Brutalist chronicles the journey of Hungarian-born Jewish architect, László Tóth, who emigrates to the United States of America in 1947. Initially forced to toil in poverty, he soon wins a contract that will change the course of the next 30 years of his life.”
With A24 distributing The Brutalist, here’s hoping the film can get the presentation it deserves. A 70mm film that runs over three and a half hours can be a tough sell, but by all accounts, this is one that absolutely needs to be seen, preferably in that format. (It could very well benefit from the success of Oppenheimer.) Our own Chris Bumbray saw the film at the Toronto International Film Festival and confirmed just this, concluding his 9/10 review by writing, “…It’s been designed to be enjoyed as a cinematic event – and those belong on the big screen. Hopefully, audiences can see it how [it was] intended, as this is pretty close to being a masterpiece.”
The Brutalist stars Adrien Brody as Tóth, giving a performance that is being considered his best since 2002’s The Pianist. Considering he earned the Best Actor Oscar for that role, we can now consider him to be in the race once again, which would be great since his post-Oscar career too rarely lived up to his potential. The cast also features Guy Pearce and Felicity Huffman.
Will you be seeing The Brutalist when it arrives in theaters?