The Brutalist Film Review

Star rating: 5/5

Writer: Joe Burden

Director: Joe Burden

Starring: Ken Ogborn and Paige Kimberley

This political, unapologetic film is a strong, thought-provoking and piece.

It’s a good moment to reveal to our readers one of my unpopular opinions: brutalist architecture is amazing, and beautiful. The British iteration of the brutalist movement brought with it the concept of ‘neighbourhoods in the sky’, first proposed by Peter and Alison Smithson in the 1960s. The aesthetic result of this idea was immortalised, for example, in the cover of The Beatles’ first album.

The Brutalist bring this spirit to life fully. The main character in the film, a middle-aged photographer, rages against the iPhone when a photography enthusiast approaches him and takes pictures with her phone. We discover that he is working on a documentary about brutalist architecture, its functionalities, vision and spirit. He tells the viewers about the social architecture approach, and how the movement considered lived spaces, for ordinary people. There is, we are told, a sharp difference in how society developed in the decades following, a shift that culminated in neo-liberalism and an abandonment of the communal ideas that Brutalism embraced- the Thatcherite turn, we might call it.

The film showcases beautiful and imposing shots of a Leicester landmark, the Lee Circle Car Park, opened in 1961, which was the first of its kind in Europe. The photographer manages to make the space the main character; low-angle close ups, wide shots, all bring the huge structure to life. The cinematography of the night-time scene it ends with adds to the film’s message and spirit. The Brutalist is a must-watch for anyone with a particular love for locations, which always include built heritage, and their role in film as an art form.

‘People get what they deserve’, says our photographer. Perhaps, although I would look at it from a different angle: people don’t get what they don’t ask for. The unapologetic energy and far-reaching view of art which The Brutalist expresses is deeply inspiring.