Richard Brody Presents the 2025 Brody Awards

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The New Yorker Radio Hour 17 min 5 speakers 6 chapters transcribed

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Who are the key critics discussing the film awards?

Vincent Cunningham 0:02

From the online spectacle around Leo XIV's election to our favorite on-screen cardinals. This week on Critics at Large, we're talking all things Pope.

Alexandra Schwartz 0:12

The Catholic Church was made for this moment. I think 2,000 years ago, the Catholic Church basically anticipated TikTok, Instagram, X. You don't have those little Swiss guard outfits and think they're not being photographed. Oil painting is not enough.

Vincent Cunningham 0:30

I'm Vincent Cunningham. Join me and my co-hosts for an episode on what can only be described as Pope Week. New episodes of Critics at Large drop every Thursday. Find us wherever you get your podcasts.

Alexandra Schwartz 0:50

This is the New Yorker Radio Hour, a co-production of WNYC Studios and The New Yorker.

1:02

This is the New Yorker Radio Hour. I'm David Remnick, and it is that time of year again. It's awards season, and I'm joined by two of the New Yorker's critics, Alexandra Schwartz, co-host of our podcast, Critics at Large, and film critic Richard Brody. We're going to talk about the past year at the movies and the prospects for the Academy Awards. But much more importantly, Richard Brody will pick the winners of the award we call the Brody. The Brodies are far more exclusive and more coveted than the Oscars, of course, though they don't have the little statue guy to go with it. This is an annual tradition here at the New Yorker Radio Hour. Richard, how many years have we been doing the Brodies? Seven, eight. Seven or eight years? My God.

Alexandra Schwartz 1:44

We're getting close to a decade. It's true.

1:47

Now, first, let's talk about the other award show, the Oscars. So let's have Alex talk to The Brutalist. Why would The Brutalist be a favorite? Because you've written about it quite wonderfully for The New Yorker.

Alexandra Schwartz 2:00

Yes, I profiled the director, Brady Corbett. I mean, it's a small movie comparatively. It was on a $10 million budget, but it is a huge movie, both thematically and in its form. It is close to four hours when you include its 15-minute intermission. And rather than scare away audiences, this seems to have enticed people. You know, it's an immigration story. It's the story of a Jewish architect following World War II. So it has a lot of themes that Hollywood might like or consider certainly to be serious. And it's really being hailed as a filmmaker's film. Uh-oh. Yeah.

Richard Brody 2:35

As opposed to a shoemaker's firm?

Alexandra Schwartz 2:37

Well, as opposed to, you know, Brady Corbett, both in his profile to me and more generally, has talked quite a lot about how much importance he gives to creative control, to having final cut. This was a theme of his speech at the Golden Globes where he won for best director, for instance. He does not wish to, you know, compromise his filmmaking ideals. to make a movie that might be more palatable to studios or to audiences. For once, don't you want to see a director get up and say, I'm a complete compromiser.