Offscreen Central is horrified by the fires devastating Southern California. As much of our team is based in LA, it is hard for us to go on business as usual. If you are in any of the impacted areas, please stay and stay up to date with precautions needed in your area. The Watch Duty app is a great resource for mapping evacuation updates and orders. The DSA have put together an emergency resource guide for those in the Los Angeles county. The guide includes where to track evacuation warnings, nearby shelter locations and essentials for survival kits.

While we will be dropping work again after a short break, we are hoping to highlight someone in need with each piece dropped. The Ganibi family lost everything due to the Eaton Fire. If you can make a small donation, here is their GoFundMe.

From the moment his booming voice echoes throughout a newly renovated personal library, it’s clear that Guy Pearce demands your attention. We know a few things about Harrison Lee Van Buren before we get to be introduced to him throughout The Brutalist, and even after watching the film, we’re still left feeling like he’s an enigma. As a wealthy industrialist who has grown his career in Philadelphia throughout the 1930s and 40s, Van Buren is the epitome of the American Dream: successful in his own work, charming, and strives to be the best at everything he does. It’s this mentality that Harrison Lee Van Buren carries throughout the film, and ultimately, becomes the reason why Pearce’s performance exemplifies what The Brutalist stands for.

Throughout his extensive career for the past 30 years, Pearce has become one of the leading actors who has seemingly gone under the radar for devilish performances. After starting his career in 1986 as a leading character on Australia’s Neighbours, Pearce’s breakthrough moment came in 1997’s L.A. Confidential as a detective lieutenant navigating crime in Los Angeles. Since then, Pearce has become known as an actor who has taken on villainous roles in prestige shows such as Mildred Pierce to even science fiction movies such as Prometheus, but none of them have felt as transformative as Harrison Lee Van Buren. It’s a jarring juxtaposition to the character of László Tóth, who comes to America chasing the aspirations that Van Buren has at the palm of his hand. Van Buren opens his home for Tóth to begin his building commission, and we’re blindsided by his charisma to realize that despite having it all, he’s ultimately a man who has self-absorbed himself into seeming like a hero.  

We get to see moments of Harrison reflecting on his childhood during a Christmas party that László is invited to, and come to understand more about who he is as a character. In a vulnerable moment of quiet reflection, we get more understanding of the world Harrison has constructed for himself and the beginning of the tension forming between both characters. Harrison’s moment of reflection and determination to sway László to work on a community center in tribute for his mother not only shows us that he’ll do anything to try to set himself a apart from other industrialists in his field, but also, try to relate to László as he begins his journey in Doylestown. Pearce’s monologue that doesn’t cut away is almost poetic and entices the audience to try to unpack who Harrison is as a character, entrancing audience members in how magnetic his performance is. 

Not only does Pearce dominate the screen by making Harrison’s character feel authentic rather than a caricature of those with wealth in the 1940s, but he’s able to hold your attention even when he’s not on screen. In moments that cut away from Harrison, or rooms that he hasn’t yet entered, we always get the feeling that he’s everywhere around László. It’s his world, and Pearce knows that Harrison can captivate those in front of him. When we finally get the opportunity to see Harrison and László talk face-to-face for the first time in a rundown diner, Harrison pulls out surviving photos of Lászlo’s work at the Bauhaus as a way to show that he feels validation and support from someone in America. Despite seeming like a grand gesture, Pearce shows the underlying intentions in long lingers towards not just Lászlo, but also throughout Part Two when Erzsébet and Zsófia arrive. Harrison does what he wants and will seduce anyone around him to be blindsided into his world of wealth, and he parades this as an advantage.

It’s a performance that has layers that may never be unravelled on screen, but the subtext is profound in Pearce’s physicality in with a character who has larger-than-life narcissism inside of his true self. And yes, it’s safe to say that Pearce as Harrison Lee Van Buren is an intellectually stimulating performance that we’ll be thinking about all throughout this year’s award season. It’s a role that doesn’t elevate Pearce, but rather, furthermore confirms that he’s one of the best actors of his generation. With this performance, the sky is the limit for Pearce, and like the construction of Van Buren Community Center, we’re looking up to see him progress even further.

The Brutalist is currently playing in select theaters and will expand to additional screens on January 17th.
You can find our review of the film here.