The Brutalist - Sunday 26th January 2025

I think every film enthusiast was looking forward to this film; a return to the character driven cinema from yesteryear, and a running time that necessitated the need for an intermission! In the age of streaming and phone addiction? That’s a bold gambit…

And one I don’t think paid off. The problem with having an intermission, is that it literally creates a film of two halves, and in the case of The Brutalist, the first half was SO much better than the second!

Had the film ended after the first half, I’d hail it as a masterpiece, but the second half is so bad, with characters suddenly behaving out of turn, completely gratuitous sex scenes, and a completely unsatisfying ending, that the overwhelming feeling is one of disappointment, and remorse for what could have been…

Still, it’s great that films like this can still be made, and more importantly, entice people into cinemas to watch them.