How The Brutalist made its disorienting, dazzling score: ‘It was hammers and screws making music!’

The Brutalist begins with a squalling maelstrom of sound. In the mesmerising opening sequence of Brady Corbet’s epic Best Picture frontrunner, we see Adrien Brody’s László Tóth fleeing the Holocaust in the dark hold of a ocean liner before he eventually stumbles out into the light, elated but unbalanced, as the Statue of Liberty veers into view upside down. Staggering piano arpeggios and siren-like tubas fill the score, landing us disorientated and dazzled in Tóth’s shoes.

For composer Daniel Blumberg, who’s up for a Best Original Score Oscar this weekend, that’s the point. “That’s my approach to filmmaking,” he explains over a video call from his London flat. “I want people to be in the world of the film, so it’s about trying to find a sonic language that’s specific to the piece.”