The Brutalist
Scene of László’s Arrival in NYC
For Brady Corbet’s The Brutalist, cinematographer Lol Crawley resurrected VistaVision, the higher resolution, wide-screen variant of 35mm, which was popularized in the 1950s, in such classics as Hitchcock’ Vertigo in 1958.
“Lol” Crawley, the British photographer who’s 54, is known for his collaborations with Brady Corbet on such films as The Childhood of a Leader (2015), Vox Lux (2018), and The Brutalist (2024).
The latter of which earned him the British Academy Film Award and nominations for the Critics’ Choice Movie Award and the Oscar Award.
Crawley’s other works also include Ballast (2008), Four Lions (2010), 45 Years (2015), The Humans (2020), White Noise (2022), as well as the BBC Two series The Crimson Petal and the White (2011) and the Netflix series The OA (2016) and Black Mirror (2017).
The strategy worked visually and thematically in its maximalist approach to this post-war immigrant drama about Holocaust survivor and visionary architect László Tóth (Best Actor nominee Adrien Brody).
It showed off the Brutalist style of Tóth’s work as an expression of his post-war trauma, with its massive blocks of concrete and steel. The format also provided wider field of view of the compositions.
He navigates his way through the confused throng of immigrants as they push toward the daylight above. The final moments of the scene show László ascending the decks of the ship, liberating himself from his past and joyously embracing his new future as the Statue of Liberty looms above them,” Crawley said.
“Director Corbet wanted the beginning of this scene to start with disorientated László in near darkness, reminiscent of his confinement in the concentration camps at Buchenwald. This proved challenging, as I had to light enough to see the back-lit figures in the darkness but also keep the ambient light level low enough to deny seeing the interior space of the ship.
To help convey the late 1940s period, I underexposed the stock and push-processed to both increase the grain and introduce colors into the shadows, creating a more pictorialist and painterly aesthetic. As the scene progressed, I increased the daylight throughout until we reached the upper deck of the ship, choosing to overexpose the exterior images to echo László’s eyes adjusting to the daylight.
