10 Movies to Watch If You Like The Brutalist
Brady Corbet’s The Brutalist is an evocative, visually striking, and deeply emotional story about immigration, ambition, art, and the cost of creativity. With its rich period details, slow-burn drama, and exploration of identity and power, the film has resonated with cinephiles and critics alike. The film’s epic journey of a Hungarian immigrant architect earned it 10 Oscar nominations.
If you were captivated by Adrien Brody’s acclaimed lead performance, its themes and aesthetic, here are 10 more films like The Brutalist that offer similarly powerful storytelling, atmospheric cinematography, and complex character studies.
Paul Thomas Anderson’s epic tale of ambition, greed, and moral decay follows Daniel Day-Lewis as a ruthless oil tycoon building his empire in early 20th-century America. Like The Brutalist, it examines the cost of success, the impact of industrialization, and the struggle for identity in a new land.
James Gray’s beautifully crafted drama stars Marion Cotillard as a Polish immigrant navigating the harsh realities of 1920s New York. Much like The Brutalist, it captures the immigrant experience with a haunting, melancholic atmosphere and stunning cinematography.
Paweł Pawlikowski’s Cold War is a visually arresting black-and-white masterpiece about love, exile, and political oppression. Spanning multiple decades, it shares The Brutalist’s themes of displacement, artistic ambition, and the search for belonging.
Based on Ayn Rand’s novel, this classic film follows an uncompromising architect battling against societal expectations. The film’s themes of artistic integrity, power dynamics, and modernist architecture align with the struggles faced by Adrien Brody’s character in The Brutalist.
Another Paul Thomas Anderson masterpiece, The Master delves into psychological power struggles between a charismatic leader and a lost, ambitious follower. Its exploration of manipulation, personal reinvention, and post-war disillusionment mirrors many of the themes in The Brutalist.
Michael Haneke’s stark black-and-white drama examines the roots of authoritarianism in a German village before World War I. It shares The Brutalist’s slow-burning intensity, monochrome aesthetic, and themes of societal upheaval and moral decay.
From Son of Saul director László Nemes, Sunset follows a young woman navigating pre-WWI Budapest, uncovering dark secrets about power and corruption. Like The Brutalist, it’s an atmospheric and haunting meditation on history, identity, and artistic ambition.
This Peter Greenaway film explores an architect’s obsession with his work and his crumbling personal life. With grand visuals and an exploration of artistic ambition, it’s a natural companion piece to The Brutalist.
Paul Schrader’s biographical drama about Japanese writer Yukio Mishima fuses art, philosophy, and politics in a visually unique way. Like The Brutalist, it examines the cost of creative genius and personal ambition in a rigid society.
