“It’s not the journey, it’s the destination”
A fictional biopic about a famous European architect’s new life in the United States.
Last weekend I decided to see where in the LA area I could go to watch the 3.5 hour long 10-time Oscar-nominated feature film ‘The Brutalist.’ The movie script was written by Norwegian filmmaker Mona Fastvold along with her husband, American filmmaker Brady Corbet, who is also the director and one of the producers of The Brutalist. It isn’t often we have Norwegians nominated for Oscars, so I was determined to go watch this film in the theater. After a bit of research, I found out that AMC in Burbank was showing the film in 70mm VistaVision Saturday afternoon, and that sealed the deal for me. I purchased a ticket to a seat all the way in the back next to the projector.
I would lie if I didn’t admit it was nostalgic to sit next to the projector and listen to the mechanics at work while watching the film on the silver screen.
Last time I went to see a film in a movie theatre that also had an intermission, was way back in 1983 when I saw ‘Ghandi’ starring Ben Kingsley. Needless to say, I was better prepared this time. I took full advantage of the break to visit the boy’s room and to refill my drink, and I still had plenty of time after returning to my seat to listen to the intermission music by film composer Daniel Blumberg. His score in general did what film scores are supposed to do; elevate the emotional moments in the film and help the audience anticipate changes. It’s no wonder the word underscore is used for music in movies. I wonder if the word came from music or if it was adopted by composers. In any event, the score draws attention to moments in the film without overpowering the story or taking our attention away from the filmmaker’s vision.
The intermission music was particularly interesting to me, because it sounded like someone practicing piano. Musical phrases commenced and then abruptly stopped. Repeatedly. It left me with a feeling of unresolved tension. As someone who started playing musical instruments myself at an early age, this reminded me of how it was to learn a new musical piece. That process of playing and overcoming difficult sections in a piece, having to stop and go back and try again. I thought it was a fascinating and clever choice by the composer, precisely to make us look forward to the resolve of the beginning of the second part of the film, which would be what the intermission was waiting for, underscored by the stumbling and imperfect piano music.
Mona Fastvold was born and raised in Norway. She moved to the U.S. in 2004 with her ex-husband, Norwegian singer/songwriter Sondre Lerche. Except for a few early roles as an actress, Mona’s career as a screenwriter, director, producer and executive producer has taken place in the United States. She has written and directed several films to date.
‘The Brutalist’ started to gain traction and win awards at film festivals around the world, culminating in an impressive seven Golden Globes nominations (Screenplay of a Motion Picture, Original Score, Director of a Motion Picture, Drama Motion Picture, Actor in a Drama Motion Picture, Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture, and Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture). The film won three Golden Globes; Best Motion Picture - Drama, Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama, and Best Director - Motion Picture. Tonight, ‘The Brutalist’ is nominated for 10 Oscars.
Back in Norway, the media took notice and started to write about Mona Fastvold as the film gained momentum. On January 23rd, one of Norway’s largest newspapers, Aftenposten, broke a story about how Mona and her American husband Brady Corbet had applied for funding for ‘The Brutalist’ in 2021 through a Norwegian film production company, to be rejected by the Norwegian Film Institute (NFI). The amount of the application to make the film a co-production with a Norwegian film company, was a modest $320,000 (in today’s currency). The film’s total budget ended up being $10 million, so Norway’s contribution to claiming seven Golden Globe nominations and ten Oscar nominations, would have been only 3.2% of the total film budget. Alas, it was not meant to be.
Mona had received support from NFI in the past for a previous film, so it was surprising to everyone involved that NFI turned this project down. The explanation for the rejection was that, NFI thought it lacked originality and was too traditional compared to the other eleven applications, of which two were approved for funding.
In the rejection letter, NFI went on to describe the film as having “high artistical ambitions, but with a non-engaging and at times pompous and old fashioned story.“
When NFI turned down the funding application, the Norwegian film production company was unable to join the team. Years later, when the film is now being hailed as one of the best motion pictures of the year, this must sting, not just for the Norwegian film production company, but also for NFI and the Norwegian film community.
I can only speculate on why, but my guess would be that Mona, by living in the U.S. and building her career here for almost 20 years at the time of the application, was too far away from the decision makers on a weekly basis. She was not part of the Oslo film gang, she didn’t hang out with the people at NFI, she didn’t attend local film events, she wasn’t visible in the Norwegian film community, and therefore she was at a clear disadvantage.
The story, screenplay and the film, is definitely not non-engaging. It is not old-fashioned, whatever that means. And it is not lacking originality.
I don’t know when the last time was when you went to see a biopic about a fictional character, but I can’t remember having done that before. The idea of making a film about a fictional character’s immigrant story where his and his family’s story drifts further and further from the cliché of the American dream, seems intriguing and original to me. Truth be told, Brady Corbet’s previous films (‘The Childhood of a Leader’ and ‘Vox Lux’), follow this same approach, with fictional characters, so I look forward to watching those, as well.
Yes, the ‘The Brutalist’ is fiction, written as a biographical story about a successful European architect who came to the United States after World War II, but when you watch the film, it seems real. And that’s the point.
Several things stood out to me about the film in terms of topics addressed and stories told within the story. ‘The Brutalist’ examines how prestige and notoriety is like a magnet for Americans, when the multi-millionaire customer who earlier completely loses it when our protagonist has redone his personal library without his knowledge, finds out the architect is actually famous in Europe and gets a write-up in a big architectural magazine about his new minimalistic and modern library.
The film addresses family loyalty and honesty. Years go by from when our protagonist arrives in the United States until his wife can join him. During that time, they write to each other, sharing what is going on in their lives. However, when she finally arrives, it is obvious she has been hiding a big secret from him all those years.
The film, shot in Hungary last summer, was completed on location in only 33 days, and the entire production was done for $10 million. Speaking to other film producers, nobody can believe how they were able to pull this off so quickly and affordably. Co-producer Brian Young explained during the Academy’s Oscar Nominee Spotlight panel for Best Picture at the David Geffen Theatre in the Academy Museum that they were on an extremely tight schedule to make it to the Venice Film Festival, where the film premiered on September 1st. Then, it went on to the Toronto International Film Festival on September 6th. What made it work, said Young, was the fact that director Brady Corbet was extremely well prepared. The crew knew what the shots were going to be like and what they had to do. There was no hesitation on set where Corbet would say “I wonder if we should try this...” – the film was meticulously planned in pre-production, which is how they were able to get this done in record time.
The cinematography by Lol Crawley is creative and engaging. There are moments when the camera locks in on the road ahead from a speeding car and then mirrors this point of view later in the film. A pair of hands held behind a woman’s back as she walks through the crowd at a party leads us up to the main character (played by Oscar-nominee Adrien Brody) as she grabs his drink from him and takes a sip, which is when we see her face at the first time. The use of light in various contrasting ways, is beautifully done.
I thought the main actors did a phenomenal job. Adrien Brody as the lead character is fantastic, Felicity Jones as his wife is really good, and Guy Pearce plays the millionaire convincingly.
As this film is written and shot like a biopic, the film ends with our protagonist being elderly and receiving an award for his life’s work. We have watched his story, his family’s story, which has been one of struggles, of betrayals, of lies, of pain, of violence, of assault, and at a ceremony at the end, the film concludes with the words: “It’s not the journey, it’s the destination.”
I must admit I was a bit perplexed in that moment, and it made me leave the movie theatre thinking about this juxtaposition of the saying we all know (it’s the journey, not the destination).
Saying it’s the destination, not the journey, is a way of saying that what you accomplish, matters. What you create, matters. At the same time, this film allows the audience to interpret this to mean that making it through, surviving the journey, is what it is about, because the journey can be horrific. The journey may be incredibly difficult, so making it through, is what really matters. And if you can leave your mark in the process, you have reached your destination.
Reels & Riffs rates ‘The Brutalist’ a solid eight out of ten reels.
All the best to all nominees at tonight’s 97th Academy Awards.
So cool that you shared that insight about the Norwegian newspaper and the NFI.