Brady Corbet's "The Brutalist" emerged less like a new film worth checking out than a movie colossus to behold.

Corbet's visionary three-and-a-half-hour postwar American epic, shot in VistaVision, has taken on the imposing aura of its architect protagonist's style. Little about it is tailored to today's more prescribed movie world. It even has an intermission. And yet "The Brutalist" isn't just one of the most acclaimed films of the year, it's edged perilously close to the mainstream.

For Corbet, the 36-year-old director, it's a surprising turn of events. His 215-minute movie, he thought, was surely destined for cult-movie status.

"It's a great reminder that anything can be mainstreamed," Corbet says. "That gives me real hope for the future of the medium. Six months ago, the powers that be, many people were telling me that the film is un-distributable."

Corbet, sitting in the offices of A24, which acquired his film out of the Venice Film Festival, smiles. "I was definitely not so popular with people as recently as August."

Yet since its arrival at Venice in September, "The Brutalist" has emerged as a major Oscar contender. Last week, it was nominated for seven Golden Globes. Numerous critics groups have named it the best film of the year.

But Corbet and "The Brutalist" are aiming higher than awards-season success. "The Brutalist" is a grand bid to bring some visionary bravado back to movies. Corbet, who was an actor in films by Michael Haneke, Olivier Assayas and Lars von Trier before committing to directing, believes film is stuck in a stasis. In a movie world ruled by safe bets and streaming imperatives, "The Brutalist" dares to go for broke.

"I struggle a lot with movies from the last 20, 30 years," says Corbet,... Read More