Brady Corbet Says Discourse Around Film Runtimes Is ‘Quite Silly’ as He Premieres 215-Minute ‘The Brutalist’: ‘We Should Be Past That, It’s 2024’

As a seasoned film critic with over three decades of experience under my belt, I must say that Brady Corbet‘s unapologetic approach to storytelling resonates deeply within me. Having spent a considerable part of my life immersed in the rich tapestry of cinema, I can appreciate his sentiment about runtime being an arbitrary constraint.


As a movie connoisseur penning my thoughts, I find myself expressing admiration for Brady Corbet’s unwavering resolve. Premiering his three-and-a-half hour historical drama, “The Brutalist,” at the prestigious Venice Film Festival this coming Sunday, he brushes off the ongoing debate concerning excessive movie durations.

At the film’s press conference, the director stated, “This movie does things we’re usually told are off-limits,” he remarked. ” frankly, I find it rather absurd to discuss running time as if it’s a flaw, just like criticizing a book for being too long or too short.”

He continued that for him, it’s more about “how much story there is to tell.”

“He expressed that perhaps his next creation might run for about 45 minutes, and he feels entitled to produce it. He believes everyone should have this freedom. He finds it absurd that we’re confined to specific formats, especially in 2024. As Harmony Korine once put it, cinema is still struggling to be born. He agrees with this sentiment, suggesting we should aid its emergence.”

Corbet found himself tearing up several times throughout the press conference, admitting at one point: “Making this film was incredibly challenging. Today, I’m feeling particularly emotional because I’ve been involved in its creation for seven years and it seemed vital almost every day for the past decade. I’m simply overwhelmed with gratitude to anyone who took three-and-a-half hours to watch it.”

“The film ‘The Brutalist’ chronicles the journey of László Tóth, a Hungarian-born Jewish architect who survived the Holocaust. Following World War II, he and his wife, Erzsébet, moved to the United States in pursuit of the American dream. Initially struggling with hardship and disrespect, they eventually secure a contract from an enigmatic and affluent client, Harrison Lee Van Buren, which sets László on a new path.”

This movie’s star-studded cast features Joe Alwyn, Alessandro Nivola, Jonathan Hyde, Isaach De Bankolé, Raffey Cassidy, Stacy Martin, Emma Laird, and Peter Polycarpou. Notably, the director of the film, Corbet, also collaborated on the screenplay with his wife Mona Fastvold (“The Sleepwalker”). In addition to his directing duties, he co-wrote the script for this project.

As a fervent admirer, I’m thrilled to share that the versatile filmmaker Corbet has graced the Venice Film Festival with his masterpieces on three occasions. His 2015 directorial debut, “The Childhood of a Leader,” not only garnered him the Luigi De Laurentiis award for best debut film but also the Horizons best director prize. His subsequent work, “Vox Lux” (2018), even contested for the coveted Golden Lion. Now, his latest creation, “The Brutalist,” is vying for the festival’s most esteemed accolade as well.

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2024-09-01 13:46