Adrien Brody in The Brutalist is 2024's Best Actor

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This time of year, Hollywood is buzzing with excitement. After living and working in the industry for a few years, I’ve come to appreciate one of a film nerd’s greatest pleasures, debating who should win the coveted Oscar.

2024 started off slow and meandering, with only Dune: Part Two and Challengers standing out in the first half. But as the year progressed, the excitement picked up with Civil War, Inside Out 2, and the mega-blockbuster Deadpool & Wolverine. The writing in these films was exceptional, and the performances made us laugh, cry, and reflect on the world around us.

But where were the men? Zendaya and Kirsten Dunst easily carved out a path to potential Oscar dominance, but on the male side, the options felt sparse. Timothée Chalamet delivered a strong performance, but let’s be honest, The Academy has never fully embraced genre films. Meanwhile, Jesse Plemons had people buzzing with his intense ten-minute scene in Civil War. It was a great moment, but ten minutes? What are we doing here, people?

Then came the fall season, and with it, The Brutalist. This film felt so real that I found myself questioning whether it was based on a true historical event. It follows László Tóth, a Hungarian immigrant whose journey takes him from the awe of seeing The Statue of Liberty to an emotional embrace with his American cousin, to ultimately being discovered as an extraordinary European architect.

Adrien Brody fully embodies the character of László, making us believe in his struggles and triumphs. There’s been some controversy surrounding the use of artificial intelligence to help refine his Hungarian accent, but that aside, his performance is mesmerizing. His ability to convey emotion through his eyes, hands, and body language is masterful. The Brutalist presents an immigrant experience unlike anything I’ve seen before, and to me, Brody’s László Tóth is the most believable performance of the year. That’s my defining criterion: Who feels the most authentic? Who carries the film on their back?

With Brody’s Golden Globe win for Best Actor in a Motion Picture Drama, his trajectory toward an Oscar victory seems inevitable. At the time of the Globes, I hadn’t yet seen The Brutalist, but after watching it, I can confidently say his win was well deserved.

Hollywood award season always comes with its fair share of skepticism. Many people today echo Ricky Gervais’s now-infamous roast, “You’re in no position to lecture the public about anything.” And while I understand that sentiment, I also see the irony. For decades, audiences have relied on Hollywood to shape how they think and feel about the world. We may criticize the industry, but we can’t deny its influence.

This is why I still care—not about the spectacle or the politics, but about the stories themselves. The filmmakers, actors, and crews create something that transcends the noise, something that at its best, reveals a truth we might not have recognized otherwise. Cinema, second only to the Bible in my view, offers some of the most honest storytelling you can experience in a dark room over the course of two and a half hours. And what rises to the top during awards season isn’t just about trophies; it’s about which stories will stand the test of time. Whether we like it or not, these films shape the cultural conversation for years to come.

So as the Oscars approach, I’m watching not just for who wins but for what stories we, collectively, decide to remember.

Written by Jesús Noland

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