Movie Reviews: THE BRUTALIST, SEPTEMBER 5, HARD TRUTHS | Film Reviews | Salt Lake City Weekly
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Movie Reviews: THE BRUTALIST, SEPTEMBER 5, HARD TRUTHS

Life-shaking traumas frame the narratives of three new dramas.

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The Brutalist - A24 FILMS
  • A24 Films
  • The Brutalist
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The Brutalist
If director Brady Corbet and his writing collaborator Mona Fastvold are serving up their historical drama The Brutalist as a single 215-minute sitting, they're going to face the question: Why? In a story about the post-World War II Jewish immigrant experience in America—one where the first half focuses on architect, Hungarian-born Jew and Holocaust survivor László Tóth (Adrien Brody) as he settles in Philadelphia circa 1947, still separated from his wife Erzsébet (Felicity Jones)—the film's 15-minute intermission takes place as a single photo fills the screen, showing the wedding day of László and Erzsébet in front of a synagogue. And being forced to stare at what that photo represents for several minutes ends up having a devastating impact. Of course, there's plenty more that takes place before and after that point, much of it surrounding László finding a patron in wealthy businessman Harrison Van Buren (a phenomenal Guy Pearce), who commissions László to design and oversee the construction of a massive community center honoring Van Buren's beloved late mother. But this is largely a story of how assimilation in America does and doesn't work, both in terms of the barriers erected by those who decide they know what a "real" American is, and the histories those new immigrants bring with them. The result is a stunning epic that asks you to stare the fulness of those lives in the face. Available Jan. 17 in theaters. (R)

September 5 - PARAMOUNT PICTURES
  • Paramount Pictures
  • September 5
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September 5
The sweaty, low-tech aesthetic of director Tim Fehlbaum's drama rarely underlines the "issues" percolating beneath the surface of a real-world tragedy, allowing them to become insinuating rather than overbearing. It's the tale of the terrorist attack on Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympic Games, told entirely from the perspective of those working in the broadcast control room—ABC Sports president Roone Arledge (Peter Sarsgaard); inexperienced director Geoff Mason (John Magaro); operations producer Marvin Bader (Ben Chaplin); German translator Marianne Gebhardt (Leonie Benesch)—trying to decide how to cover a horrific event in real time. Fehlbaum and the screenwriting team effectively set up the background of the dawn of "live via satellite" broadcasting, and the pre-digital minutiae of having to develop 16mm film or create a caption with a physical letter board. But it's also about how even the most high-stakes moments aren't free of petty turf wars—like Arledge refusing to turn over decision-making to the ABC News team—or questionable ethical calls based on not wanting to get "scooped." The emphasis on procedural detail tends to give short shrift to character development, though the performances remain intensely watchable as they improvise their coverage, and it doesn't always work to shoehorn in the context of Germany trying to burnish its image on the post-WWII international stage. Mostly, it's a fascinating procedural in which we watch people making history while not fully realizing what kind of history they might be making. Available Jan. 17 in theaters. (PG-13)

Hard Truths - BLEECKER STREET FILMS
  • Bleecker Street Films
  • Hard Truths
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Hard Truths
You know that old saying about how "if you encounter one asshole, you've encountered one asshole, but if you encounter assholes all day long, you're the asshole?" Well, meet that asshole: Pansy Deacon (Marianne Jean-Baptiste), a Black Londoner whose entire life seems to consist of finding fault and verbally attacking others, including her husband Curtley (David Webber) and 22-year-old son, deeply-introverted son Moses (Tuwaine Barrett). Writer/director Mike Leigh and Jean-Baptiste create an indelible character in the profoundly unhappy Pansy, juxtaposing her psychological damage with the considerably more upbeat worldview of her sister Chantelle (Michele Austin) and Chantelle's two daughters (Sophia Brown and Ani Nelson), so that the answer to Pansy's miserable personality isn't as simple as "traumatic childhood." Instead, it turns into a surprisingly sympathetic look at how the burdens of an unspecified, undiagnosed mental illness can crush the joy from someone's life, and from the lives of those around that person. Leigh's shaggy, semi-improvisational structure can lead to some unnecessary diversions—like looking in on the professional lives of Chantelle's daughters—distracting from the central characters. But by the time Hard Truths reaches a climax at a Mother's Day gathering, where the full brunt of Pansy's unhappiness finally hits her, you might find a surprising degree of sympathy for that asshole. Available Jan. 17 in theaters. (NR)