One of 2024’s most praised movies, and a likely contender for the Oscars in 2025, wasn’t shot or even set in Fall River — but it has an interesting connection to our area that you may see everyday.
Brady Corbet’s “The Brutalist” is being called a modern masterpiece, the epic story of a Holocaust survivor and architect (Adrien Brody) who flees to the United States and struggles to achieve the American dream.
USA Today reviewer Brian Truitt called the 3.5-hour saga “brilliant” and “2024’s best movie,” with many other critics and audiences in agreement; it’s been nominated for seven Golden Globes, including Best Drama.
The SouthCoast has a few examples of Brutalist architecture, some very prominent. Let’s take a look:
‘The Brutalist’ review: Epic and excellent, this toxic American dream is 2024’s best movie
It’s a style of architecture that first became prominent after World War II in Europe, usually categorized by unpainted concrete formed into rigid geometric shapes that emphasize simple function over beauty — the word “brutalist” comes from the French term béton brut, or raw concrete.
Despite how it looks, the massive, hulking buildings of Brutalism were actually meant to be inspiring, in a socialist utopia kind of way. It maybe also reflected the weariness people felt rebuilding cities blown to pieces by the most horrific war imaginable. The style was also meant to reflect honesty — instead of covering buildings with supposedly “unnecessary” decoration, Brutalism was straightforward and plain.
The movement gained prominence in the architecture world in the 1960s and into the 1970s, but fell out of favor — partially because it’s not conventionally “pretty,” and partially because Brutalist buildings were often uncomfortable and hard to maintain.
It’s the story of László Tóth, a Hungarian Jewish architect who immigrates to America. Actor Guy Pearce plays Harrison Lee Van Buren, a rich industrialist who hires, then exploits Tóth. It is fiction, inspired by the lives of real people in the Brutalist movement.
It opened in extremely limited release on Dec. 20, but is expected to go wider starting Jan. 10. It’s intended to be seen on IMAX screens.
“The Brutalist” is not yet on streaming services. It’s distributed by A24 Films, which streams its films on Max.
Brutally beautiful? Fall River Government Center may be ugly, but it’s ours
While you’re waiting to see the movie, there are a few examples of actual Brutalist architecture to tide you over:
The University of Massachusetts Dartmouth: Architect Paul Rudolph began designing the campus of what was then called Southeastern Massachusetts Technological Institute in 1963. He created a master plan for the project, and he had grand ideas that he said were the “exact opposite” from how buildings are normally created in America. Rather than focus on the building in an empty space, he wanted to focus on the space and connect buildings to it.
Rudolph was fired from the project in 1966, though the architects who saw it through consulted with him through its completion. Today the campus remains one of the most prominent examples of Brutalism locally.
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B.M.C. Durfee High School: In the mid-1970s, when Fall River needed to build a new high school, it went in a completely opposite style direction from the stately castle-like structure on Rock Street. The school on Elsbree Street, almost a miniature version of UMass Dartmouth, was designed in the Brutalist style, with enormous slabs of raw concrete and one-way glass sprawling over the campus.
When it opened in 1978, the building was already controversial for its schedule and cost overruns, for having poor heating and ventilation, and for looking hideous. It also proved that Brutalist designs and harsh New England weather don’t always get along. The expanses of flat roof collected snow and rain, causing leaks. The concrete façade eroded in chunks, showing the steel skeleton underneath streaked with rust. When the 1978 Durfee was torn down in 2021, few missed it. Only the original Nagle Auditorium building remains.
South Main Place: For old-timers, Fall River’s downtown in the mid-century was a shopper’s haven, but business dried up by the late 1970s and ‘80s when the suburban malls sprang up.
Opened in 1982, South Main Place was an attempt to lure shoppers back downtown, home to about 20 indoor shops. The Brutalism-inspired building didn’t fit with the rest of downtown Fall River’s 19th century architecture. Made of ribbed, frequently moisture-stained concrete and dark brown glass, it was impossible to look in from the outside, making it uninviting and cold. And inside, the mall was dark, musty and unpleasant. South Main Place lingered until 2005, when it was demolished to make way for the Fall River Justice Center.
Fall River Government Center: As with Durfee High, Fall River’s original City Hall had the splendor of intricate 19th century design, but when it came time for a replacement, designers went the completely opposite way.
Completed in 1976, Government Center was supposed to be modern — a sleek concrete cube embedded with one-way glass stuck on top of a pedestal, perched over an interstate highway. Again, New England weather has chewed away at the material, causing several concrete slabs to fall onto the road below and causing the building to require refacing. Like Boston’s similar Government Center complex, it’s iconic of the love-it-or-hate-it style.
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