Natalie Portman on how Brady Corbet is “transforming the way movies are made”
There are few films that have divided audiences as much as The Brutalist, with the three-hour epic leaving some feeling enthralled and others appalled.
The story of László Tóth, a visionary architect who immigrates to the United States in search of a better life, but finds himself under the thumb of a wealthy client who exploits his talents for personal gain.
There is much to love about The Brutalist, with a triumphant score that pulls you into Tóth’s sheer admiration for his new home and land of opportunity, with a near-masterful first act that captures the highs and lows of the immigrant experience. But while many have debated the effect of the second act, there is no denying that Brady Corbet has heralded in a new era of independent filmmaking, with the director managing to pull off an impressive feat by completing the production in just 30 days with a mere budget of $10million.
It remains as a beacon of hope for future and emerging filmmakers, with Brady Corbet showing that while it might be extremely challenging, it is possible to make great-looking films with smaller budgets and little interference from Hollywood at large.
But Corbett has one fan in particular who is most enthusiastic about the possibilities this presents for other independent directors, with former collaborator Natalie Portman describing her love for his work and the hope this instils in her for the future of Hollywood.
Portman starred in Corbet’s 2018 film Vox Lux, a dark portrait of a school shooting survivor who goes on to become a pop star, later battling her inner demons and unresolved trauma over the incident. Portman has been full of praise for Corbet’s work, pointing out the common threads in his work by writing, “In all three of his features, including The Childhood of a Leader, the story of a petulant child in early 20th century Europe who grows up to become a dictator, Brady tells big stories with epic (and epochal) sweep about individuals who become transformed by the eras they are living through, and who, in turn, imprint history with the fruits of their labor — which in Brady’s budding oeuvre includes everything from songs and buildings to furniture and leadership styles”.
But perhaps the greatest example of his style and the effect it is having on mainstream cinema is The Brutalist, with Portman writing, “Brady’s big-swing, small-scale epics —The Brutalist chief among them — are transforming the way movies are made in our maximalist era of algorithmic content creation and franchise fatigue. The Corbet Way is a model of economy delivering a minimum of scale while exuding the intellectual heft and sprawl of a 19th century novel”.
In a decade defined by commercial cinema with little substance, perhaps Corbet’s attempt at expanding this style within independent filmmaking is the antidote to the tired stories being churned out by larger studios. Maybe the answer is a blend of both – making use of the same format but adding depth to it, appealing to all audience members through a grand exterior but similarly fulfilling subject matter.
