Plot Summary – Escaping postwar Europe, a visionary architect comes to America to rebuild his life, his career, and his marriage. On his own in a strange new country, he settles in Pennsylvania, where a wealthy and prominent industrialist recognises his talent.

★★★★½  

Watched 19 Jan 2025

When the intermission hit, I was so ready to declare this my favorite film of last year (yes, even over Dune: Part Two), and while I won’t say that I was underwhelmed by the second half, it just doesn’t reach the heights of the first half. The first half is a slow, methodical, calculated brilliant read on America, the American dream, family, and the tortured artist. It’s satirical and funny while also being deeply sincere and self-serious in the best way possible. The second half is a lot more….messy?

It doesn’t have the same calculated feel, and in my opinion, takes its eye off the ball for a bit too long. You really feel the length in the second half which makes the film feel like it’s been going on forever at times. It’s still a pretty epic achievement of film though and I feel like I’ll be thinking about and exploring the ideas of this movie for a long time in my life. 90% of this movie is genuinely perfect and would be up there among my favorite films of all time, it’s just that there’s a nagging 10% interspersed throughout the film that I just didn’t feel fit and wished they did something different with that time.

The performances are all incredible – Guy Pearce and Felicity Jones were so rich and performed with so much character and nuance. Adrien Brody stole the show though, so much charisma and charm and yet plays this grimy, morally dubious character so well. He really makes you feel like he is an artist with an indescribable yearning throughout his life for something more. This is brilliantly complemented by the cinematography of the film, there were so many moments where I would take a deep breath and just say “what a shot.”

While I wouldn’t say this was my favorite film of 2024, it’ll probably be the one that stays with me the most. I will think about this film for probably the rest of my life and I cannot wait for it to join the annals of cinema alongside other epics of its nature. I highly recommend you check this one out!