I studied architecture in high school and I think my parents would have preferred that I had gone in that direction in college. Oddly, I was warned by my high school drafting/architecture teacher that if one becomes an architect and is lucky enough to have his own practice, he will still be subject to the whims of the wife of the rich person paying for the project. That was enough in my unformed adolescent mind for me to decide that I liked drawing too much to pursue it as a profession (like religious/biblical studies or writing was going to be a better choice, ha!).  I also grew up in “naturalistic” Southern California in the 1970s, so everything I drew was wood siding and earth tones. I actively hated anything with brick, much less concrete or glass. Actually, I loved large windows as long as they were framed by wood. 

Somehow during my six years of architectural drawing (I began in the 7th grade), I was completely ignorant of Modernist or Bauhaus architecture. I guess I didn’t notice the government buildings in Santa Ana or Los Angeles. Though I do remember some excitement at a new building that was being built near me in the late 1960s that we called the Ziggurat (now called the Chet Holifield Federal Building). I think some friends took me out there to help me learn how to drive in the enormous empty parking lot surrounding the building. Other than that I didn’t get the appeal of giant concrete buildings.

Little did I know that 50-years later someone would develop a three hour and thirty-five minute Oscar nominated movie about a fictional immigrant architect whose life work was bringing Brutalist Architecture to the United States. Slightly similar to his role in 2002’s the Pianist, Adrien Brody portrays a traumatized artist, László Tóth, who survives Nazi occupation, in this case, imprisonment in a Nazi concentration camp, and somehow his art survives the experiences and rejections. One thing I loved about the movie is that when he finally finds a patron and answers the patron’s question, “Why Architecture,” he answers beautifully and honestly. But one does not learn about the full meaning of his answer until the very end of the movie and one assumes that the patron never lived long enough or would have understood what Tóth created in that one project. This is not a happy story but there is beauty here, if one has the eyes to see it.

[Movie viewed on 2025-02-06 at AMC Town Square]

Rather than share the movie trailer I thought that it’d be better to share this clip about Brutalist architecture with comments from the film’s creators. Enjoy (I hope you can appreciate my image of me in front of a concrete wall after watching this film).

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Tags: 2025 movies, architecture, immigrant stories, oscars, video Mondays 

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