Dir: Brady Corbet, US, 2024, 215 mins
Cast: Adrien Brody, Felicity Jones, Guy Pearce, Raffey Cassidy, Joe Alwyn, Isaac de Bankole
Review by Carlie Newman
Up for a number of Academy Awards I’m sure that we shall see the film and actors being given Oscars. We await the London Film Critics award ceremony on 2 February 2025 where we expect the movie to receive something! In spite of its 3 1/2 hours length with a built-in interval of 15 minutes, it is absolutely enthralling and well worth spending the time.
The story revolves around László Toth (Adrien Brody), who arrives in the US with nothing as a Jewish Holocaust survivor from Hungary. At first, he is looked after by his cousin Attila (Alessandro Nivola) who now thinks of himself as Gentile to match his American wife a Christian. Laszlo, an architect, works alongside Attila. But Attila doesn’t like his cousin’s obvious Jewishness and they fall out.
Meeting the son, Harry Van Burren (Joe Alwyn) of the very wealthy Harrison Lee Van Buren (Guy Pearce), Laszlo is delighted when Harry commissions him to rebuild his father’s library as a surprise gift. Unfortunately, Harrison is most unhappy with his new room and sends Laszlo away. He later changes his mind and commissions Toth, who he now sees as a famous Hungarian architect to build a huge monument on a Pennsylvania Hill near where he lives. The new building incorporates various rooms and is to be a resource for the community .
Laszlo is happy in his work and with the patronage of the wealthy industrialist. He is even happier when he is reunited with his wife, Erzsébet (Felicity Jones) who has been separated from him somewhere in Europe along with their niece Zsófia (Raffey Cassidy). However, the relationship between Laszlo and Harrison becomes fraught and Laszlo relies even more on the drugs he has been taking with his friend Gordon (Isaac de Bankole), a widower who cares for his young son.
Apart from a rather superfluous coda at the end of the film, the director Brady Corbet brings all elements of the story and the setting together in a beautifully executed manner. The music and cinematography help in no small way to set the scene for the story taking place.
It would be nothing, however, without the portrayal of the Jewish refugee, Laslo Toth. Adrien Brody, with his still somewhat emaciated body, gives a superb characterisation of the Jewish architect. All the other characters are well depicted, and Felicity Jones is unrecognizable from the usual British characters she plays as the displaced wife of Laszlo.
Please don’t be put off by the film’s length: it really doesn’t seem too long when watching it and I wouldn’t have minded another 30 minutes!
