5 Underappreciated Adrien Brody Movies

There’s no denying that Adrien Brody is one of the most deservedly acclaimed actors of his generation - he was the youngest-ever Best Actor winner in 2003 for his lead role in The Pianist, and since then, he’s consistently chosen ambitious and interesting projects. However, in the decades since his historic Oscars win, many of the actor’s most enjoyable films have flown completely under the radar. With Adrien Brody now predicted to win another Oscar, it’s the perfect time to look back at his career.

Director Brady Corbet brought Adrien Brody right back into the spotlight last year with his astounding new project The Brutalist, which follows the life of a Hungarian immigrant who travels to America to achieve his dreams as an architect. It’s a hugely powerful film that explores themes of ambition, politics, and sacrifice in the pursuit of success. While The Brutalist has faced criticism for its alleged use of AI, it’s still shaping up to be a major contender at this year’s Academy Awards ceremony.

5 The Jacket (2005)

Directed By John Maybury

The Jacket isn’t a particularly well-known film, much less a critically acclaimed one, but it remains one of the biggest surprises in Brody’s filmography. The story follows a war veteran who finds himself institutionalized for his mental struggles after returning home, only to discover that he’s been chosen as a test subject for secretive experiments. With an excellent supporting cast featuring names such as Daniel Craig, Keira Knightley, and Jennifer Jason Leigh, Maybury’s film is a subversive and unpredictable drama that draws inspiration from the sci-fi genre in the most fascinating ways.

4 King Of The Hill (1993)

Directed By Steven Soderbergh

King of the Hill is one of Adrien Brody’s earliest roles, landing at a point in his career before he was particularly well-known as an actor. As such, it often goes overlooked among his other projects. But this powerful coming-of-age drama is an excellent example of how to do epic storytelling on an intimate scale. The narrative centers around a young boy who is separated from his family in St. Louis during the Great Depression, forced to create a new life for himself and protect himself from the greed of those around him.

3 King Kong (2005)

Directed By Peter Jackson

Hot off the heels of Brody’s Oscar-winning performance in The Pianist, the actor’s role in Peter Jackson’s King Kong adaptation is one of his best to date. The performance is best remembered for Adrien Brody’s crowd-pleasing driving skills during an unforgettable final-act car chase, but the whole movie is filled with underrated moments like this. While he’s not the star of the show, Brody is certainly the highlight of the supporting cast, which is saying something in a movie that also features Jack Black, Naomi Watts, and Andy Serkis.

2 Detachment (2011)

Directed By Tony Kaye

While Detachment is a more low-key entry in Brody’s filmography, that doesn’t make it any less deserving of recognition. The film centers around a substitute teacher who’s emotionally disconnected from his own life, coasting through his career until his entire worldview is changed by three separate women who ground him in reality. Detachment is an extremely personal and honest film about the dangers of losing touch with the real world, and getting stuck inside your own head.

While Brody’s performance in Detachment is much more subtle and restrained than something like The Brutalist or The Pianist, that works in the actor’s favor. It’s an archetype that audiences hadn’t really seen from him before, and he really makes it work here. The film has a very strong command of this character, and Brody’s expressive performance helps the audience more fully connect with him.

1 The Darjeeling Limited (2007)

Directed By Wes Anderson

The Darjeeling Limited is rarely considered among Wes Anderson’s best projects, but that’s only because of the respective strength of the rest of his filmography. With such critical darlings as The Grand Budapest Hotel and The Royal Tenenbaums under his belt, this staggering comedy-drama is often forgotten in the shuffle. The film follows three brothers who embark on a long train journey through India following the sudden death of their father, healing old wounds and repairing broken relationships.

Much of Wes Anderson’s filmography centers around the family dynamic and its tragic fragility, but few of them capture it as effectively as The Darjeeling Limited. The film bears all the trademarks of the director’s signature visuals, albeit with rougher edges as he was just beginning to develop this style. The lead performances from Adrien Brody, Jason Schwarzman and Owen Wilson are also flawless, as they bring to life some of the strongest and best-written characters of Anderson’s career.

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