Brady Corbet’s 215-minute post-WWII epic The Brutalist had its world premiere here at the Venice Film Festival this afternoon with the starry drama receiving a 13-minute, five-second ovation from the Sala Grande audience.
'The Brutalist': Brady Corbet's 70mm Epic Is A Flawed But Fascinating Edifice To The Practical Possibilities Of Cinema - Venice Film Festival
On hand were Corbet — whose Vox Lux and Childhood of a Leader previously made their debuts on the Lido — along with cast members Adrien Brody , Felicity Jones, Guy Pearce , Joe Alwyn, Stacy Martin, Raffey Cassidy, Emma Laird, Isaach De Bankolé and Alessandro Nivola.
Although the movie was long enough to require an intermission — which broke out with its own 17-second ovation — the reception to the finale was enthusiastic with plenty of “Brava”s thrown from the audience. Ethan Hawke was even in the crowd, remaining on-hand throughout the ovation.
In The Brutalist , Brody stars as László Tóth, a Hungarian-born Jewish architect who emigrates to the U.S. with his wife Erzsébet after surviving the Holocaust. As they seek to rebuild their legacy in America, a mysterious and wealthy client (Pearce) ends up changing their lives forever. Corbet co-wrote the screenplay with Norwegian filmmaker and wife Mona Fastvold ( The World to Come ).
George Clooney Applauds Joe Biden For Stepping Down & Addresses Apple's Move To Limited Theatrical Release For 'Wolfs': "It's A Bummer" - Venice
Brody told the Venice press corps earlier today that he had felt “immediate kinship and understanding” for the character of Tóth due to the trajectory of his mother, the photographer Sylvia Plachy, an immigrant who fled Hungary in 1956 during the Hungarian Revolution. “She was a refugee and emigrated to the United States, and much like László started again and lost their home and pursued a dream of being an artist… I understand a great deal about the repercussions of that on her life and her work as an artist, which I think is a wonderful parallel with László… This fiction feels very real to me.”
In his review of the film, Deadline’s Damon Wise wrote, “There’s a perverse charm to (Corbet’s) hardcore aesthetic, just as there was in Childhood of a Leader and Vox Lux . The Brutalist reprises some of those film’s themes, and vast chunks of cast, but somehow it doesn’t quite feel as finished. Then again, as Frank Lloyd Wright might say, does any architect every really finish?”
Focus Features acquired international rights to the film during the Berlinale.
Adrien Brody Says Mother's Life Journey Gave Him Sense Of 'Kinship' With Hungarian Émigré Character In Venice Title 'The Brutalist'
Most Popular
Comments / 0