10 Recent Movies That Totally Trolled Audiences

The Brutalist is one of the most acclaimed films of last year, and for damn good reason - it's an ultra-ambitious, brilliantly acted, visually stunning dramatisation of the inevitable conflict between art and commerce, with writer-director Brady Corbet seemingly passing self-reflexive comment on Hollywood itself.

But after over three hours of increasingly severe, bleak drama, the film ends on something of a jokey, wildly unexpected punchline. 

The 1980-set epilogue ends with László Tóth's (Adrien Brody) niece Zsófia (Ariane Labed) signing off with an ambiguous departing line - "No matter what the others try and sell you, it is the destination, not the journey."

And then, the credits roll to the oddly upbeat Italian disco tune "One for You, One for Me," Corbet taking a sharp left-turn from the sort of moody, emotional climax many surely expected him to deliver.

This simply isn't the way you're "supposed" to end a "prestige" movie, with a tonally dissonant musical choice and deeply ambiguous final line that's a bit of a litmus test for audiences.

Much like The Brutalist's third act as a whole, the inscrutable ending seems to have split viewers firmly down the middle, many disappointed that Corbet opted to end his sumptuous epic with such a peculiar rug-pull.