The Brutalist - Review - Armed with $10M, Brady Corbet Takes the Biggest Creative Swing of the Year

[@adamcsiba4829]

I actually had the pleasure to work on this movie. Can't wait to see it!

[@geekinwithJamesHancock]

Very cool! I'm really looking forward to seeing some behind-the-scenes footage. I am in awe that your crew was able to shoot this film in only 33 days.

[@bad_dog4648]

One of my favourite review channels, thank you for your work, Mr. Hancock.

[@geekinwithJamesHancock]

Very kind words and greatly appreciated!

[@calvin9631]

Been waiting for this review, glad you liked it James! I’m really hoping this movie is a success, and everyone who cares about cinema gives it a shot. If something of this scale can be made on only 10 million… a success means only wonderful things for the industry as a whole! I’ve been watching some of Brady’s Q&A’s and he’s the real deal. he said he doesn’t need any more than 10 million to make a movie, but would take a little more so he could compensate his crew better… class act! Happy holidays James!

[@geekinwithJamesHancock]

Brady is rapidly turning me into a massive fan. I'll definitely be banging the drum on this movie's behalf and rooting hard for the film to find the audience it deserves.

[@jamielee7943]

Amazing review!!! The Brutalist is my most anticipated movie of next year. They just don’t make films like this anymore & I am so excited to see it on the biggest screen possible. I would love to see Guy Pearce win the Oscar. He’s one of my favourite actors & I’ve heard nothing but praise for him in this performance. 👏

[@geekinwithJamesHancock]

Guy Pearce had my audience screaming with laughter. You're going to be delighted by his performance.

[@SEAKPhotog]

Sounds great. Happy holidays! Get well soon!

[@geekinwithJamesHancock]

Happy holidays to you as well! Thankfull I'm beating the cough in record time and getting my energy back. Already assembling my clips for my Top 10 of 2024 video.

[@jinchoung]

vistavision is probably best known to our generation by being used by industrial light and magic in the star wars hey day to shoot their plate photography for compositing with optical printers - to get the finest possible quality and grain for a process where each successive generation of duplication incurs greater noise and grain. shockingly, modern DSLRs that can shoot "full frame" video is shooting the same backplate size and dimensions as vistavision (which is basically shooting film with the same orientation as a still 35mm photography camera with the film feeding horizontally instead of vertically like most motion pic cams.

[@geekinwithJamesHancock]

Much obliged for the info! Are you a director of photography or just an enthusiast on the topic?

[@AdrianMendoza23]

Oh, I can't wait to check this movie out! I'm so glad you brought up The Fountain Head, I loved the book but have never seen the film. I'm sure 'The Brutalist' & 'The Fountainhead' would make a great double feature. Brady Corbet is so good in 'Mysterious Skin's. Thank you James.

[@geekinwithJamesHancock]

If you liked 'The Fountainhead', definitely check out the flick. King Vidor recruited Ayn Rand herself to write the screenplay.

[@denniszenanywhere]

The fountainhead had its good moments.

[@AdrianMendoza23]

@denniszenanywhere I will try and check it out

[@miguelfmyers]

Ive been praying for film to include intermissions even write them in my own screenplay outlines. I love the musical numbers for intermissions like Lawrence of arabia specifically

[@charityschmidt3958]

Hope you feel better soon

[@geekinwithJamesHancock]

Many thanks, Charity! Still coughing but I have my energy back.

[@peybak]

I'm in! His first film, "The Childhood of a Leader", is so underrated. It's filled with a lot of dread like a horror movie. Highly recommended.

[@geekinwithJamesHancock]

I've got his debut feature all queued up and ready to watch after the chaos of the holidays has drawn to a close. Eagerly looking forward to it.

[@shellytokens8365]

Watching this tomorrow morning in 70MM at Lincoln square, cant wait.

[@geekinwithJamesHancock]

Hell yes! Perfect place to see it.

[@TheVid54]

I can't wait to see THE BRUTALIST! Brody was great in THE PIANIST, so I'm expecting something special here. I'm happy to hear that there's a great score as well, although I'm not familiar with Daniel Bloomberg.

[@geekinwithJamesHancock]

The score is thunderous and if you're a fan of Brody then you'll be absolutely delighted by his performance. Definitely one of the best roles of his career.

[@titusvarughese5071]

Wow 3.5 hours!! Time to go back with movies having intermissions again 🍿🍿

[@geekinwithJamesHancock]

It's been years since I've seen a movie with an intermission but it was really interesting listening to the auditorium buzz with conversations about the movie during the break.

[@enriquecabada8841]

does anyone know if the brutalist is getting a wider release only one theater near me is showing it and its an hour drive both ways i want to watch it but along with the running time that makes it a big time commitment

[@theelite.esmithftw2825]

I heard a wide release is coming January 10

[@geekinwithJamesHancock]

I suspect that A24 is going to roll out the movie slowly depending upon how well it performs. But if you have half a day to spare, the drive might be worth it.

[@EmilStudzinski]

I may be wrong, but I think he said “under ten million”. I heard an unconfirmed report that it actually cost six million. Even though that’s low for a film, even getting that much of a budget nowadays is incredibly difficult. Twenty-to-thirty years ago a ten-million dollar budget for even a bare bones indie film would be considered an almost insurmountable obstacle. If he had made it about an architect named Batman, however… And just to be clear, I’m not sure whether or not A24 actually finances films in their entirety, but I’m almost positive that in this case they only bought the film when it was finished. The old studio model, in which a single organization puts up the entire budget and essentially trusts the director to deliver something, is basically over. It’s usually up to the director or producer to go around to various individuals and entities, gathering up a little money here and there. This is what most beginners have to do when making their first film. Now it’s mandatory for everyone other than Christopher Nolan or Ridley Scott. And that kind of makes sense, because audiences simply don’t care about original material anymore, outside of some occasional lip service or griping. I guess all the people who used to make films geared toward adults a functioning industry just died, and were replaced with billions of comic book-lovers with the mental capacity of five year olds. I’m getting kind of worried over the fact that all signs of this movie’s release have disappeared where I live (Denver). I haven’t been this excited for a film in years. Here’s hoping it changes something.

[@jackgreenway4679]

0:52 I feel the exact same way sometimes with directors like Mizaki for example I loved Boy and the Heron but I still don’t even fully understand it yet I keep coming back to it.

[@geekinwithJamesHancock]

Loved The Boy and the Heron and it was very encouraging to see how well it performed theatrically last year.

[@njt002]

I will see this based upon your review. Thx!

[@geekinwithJamesHancock]

Much obliged for the vote of confidence and I hope I didn't steer you astray!

[@chrisv9419]

Got tickets for it on 70MM at Portland OR along with Nosferatu on 35MM for Christmas! My theater is also showing Black Christmas/Die Hard on both 35MM’s too so they’re going all out! Then after I got a Primus new years concert to attend after! Suffice to say the holiday is gonna be a spooky groovy banger! Take care of the cold! I got mine back in November after seeing King Crimson’s Beat tour at Denver with Adrian Belew, Danny Carey of Tool, and Steve Vai of Frank Zappa! This gen z here thinks it was totally worth it as I’m sure as you dealing with it for the brutalist 😂 hang in there my guy!

[@geekinwithJamesHancock]

I'd kill to see Black Christmas on 35mm. I was very late to the party and only saw it for the first time a few years ago. Massive fan. Very jealous that you got to see King Crimson. I was late to that party as well but I was blown away by the use of the song "Starless" during the opening to 'Mandy'.

[@amcaesar]

I dare you to find a faster 3 hour 45 experience in the movie theater.

[@geekinwithJamesHancock]

It whizzed on by. Glad to hear you enjoyed it as well. To be continued on our Top 10 Roundtable.

[@denniszenanywhere]

I liked the first half but not the second half. Still a good film but it could have been great. I would have preferred if this movie was in black and white.

[@donniemoder1466]

Vistavision!

[@geekinwithJamesHancock]

Great old school format. I hope more filmmakers will take a page from Corbet's book and shoot on film.

[@ladyhotep5189]

Wh6 does Guy Pearce give me the creeps? I cannot look at him for a long time. Maybe the roles I've seen him in... idk

[@SEAKPhotog]

I have the same reaction.🤷🏻‍♂️

[@geekinwithJamesHancock]

He'll give the creeps even more after seeing this movie, but if you want to see him when he was young and studly, check him out in L.A. Confidential.

[@thehousethathulkbuilt3883]

Is this film a hard R rating? Or could it pass for PG-13

[@geekinwithJamesHancock]

It's rated R due to a few nude scenes and one scene of graphic violence. There's no way could it get a PG-13.

[@MediaHell]

Can’t wait to see it, but I’m unsure if I wanna spend that much time in the theater on my weekend. Had a similar issue with killers of the flower moon last year.

[@geekinwithJamesHancock]

Totally fair, but for me the running time just whizzed on by. Chug an espresso and you'll be ready to rock.

[@JohnMack-f3f]

4:06 who cares about life in the fifties?

[@geekinwithJamesHancock]

Willful and deliberate ignorance is not a positive character trait.

[@JohnMack-f3f]

@ it’s not timely either. I like being ignorant about The Real Housewives and that’s actually timely…

[@camwchristian]

Can’t see this movie anywhere in Dallas, Oklahoma City or Tulsa 👎🏻👎🏻👎🏻👎🏻👎🏻👎🏻👎🏻

[@geekinwithJamesHancock]

Right now it's only only on 2 screens here in NYC. I suspect that A24 is going to roll it out slowly over the next few weeks.

[@JamesElliott-ne9rg]

Walked out after 21/2 hours Intolerable. Bad. Looked like it was a low budget movie. Flat boring plot. Brody overacts in almost every scene. Could not summon an ounce of care or interest for a single character.

[@JohnMack-f3f]

Why are “ great “ movies abstract, esoteric junk?

[@geekinwithJamesHancock]

There are thousands of great movies over the last 130 years that are not.