My Brother's Wedding

Well worth a view. The story is real and gripping, and the direction is top-notch. The lines are delivered like a play, but the cinematography is so beautiful, you forget about the delivery and just focus on the characters and the emotional story unfolding. Overall, it's a powerful, understated drama that allows the story to grow out of mundane interactions between characters. My Brother's Wedding may sound like monologues in a play at first, but the quiet power of the imagery and the engaged silent moments transcend all in a way not unlike Bergman: at once surreal and intimate.

A film of moments in the life of a family in a black neighborhood in LA; mundane waiting behind the counter in the dry cleaning family business, goofy wrestling with the father in the backroom, helping the aging 'aunt' take her pills and reading to her from the bible, the old friend who comes out of prison, walking, standing around in front porches, teasing, eating grub in the small kitchen.

Yes the acting is mostly stodgy, the plot, whatever plot there is, very threadbare; a disillusioned son has to come to terms with his svelte brother's upcoming marriage to an upper class lawyer, his own life going nowhere and loss of more innocent times.

Yet I'll have this over a dozen Spike Lee films.

There is some reactionary sentiment but it is not bolstered by cutesy cinematic tricks, it does not yank us from 'real' presence in the film to Brechtian distance. The film does not emphasize the moral or political dimension, but simply the bedrock of frustrated life. It is enjoyable not because of quirks, but truthful ordinariness. It is atmospheric, but only because our gaze is transparent and the world seems vibrant, immediate in the way of Cassavetes. What truth is here is not so much for me in the squabbling and grievance, but in the fact that I can almost reach out to touch the cheap formica counter. Here's where the nonacting pays off; having Samuel Jackson in there would ruin the thing.

Normally, I'm not a fan of neorealism which this film owes to, until it was transmuted by Rossellini/Antonioni onwards to be simultaneously about the reality and landscape of mind, but I'm also a sucker for places and atmospheres I can visit. I saw this for my cinematic Los Angeles project, and already know I will return to it in the future; in its permeating sense of place, it joins The Exiles, Killer of Sheep, The Long Goodbye, Angel City, Killing of a Chinese Bookie.

Wonderful, darkly comic look at one of life's losers, Pierce Mundy, a young man, adrift in South Central in the early 80s, who has to choose between attending the funeral of his creepily abusive to women best friend and the marriage of his corporate lawyer brother to a banal yuppie. And in typical loser fashion Pierce ends up doing neither after ridiculously trying to do both.

In telling this poignantly mordant tale writer/director Charles Burnett demonstrates his ability to take serious stuff lightly, a tone which perfectly fits this character and material and is key to accomplishing the difficult task of actually making me care about this feckless schlub. Also helping in the sympathy department is the performance of Everett Silas as Pierce, an actor who apparently made Burnett's life miserable during the film's shooting but whose body language and speech perfectly embody a fellow who cannot get out of his own way. Also good is Jesse Holmes who plays Pierce's mother and is a fascinating combination of anger, bemusement and sorrow over how her son has turned out.

There are some imperfections. As befits a low budget, indy film the acting beyond Silas and Holmes is hit and miss and while some scenes are perfectly balanced between humor and menace, like the ones set in the dry cleaning establishment that the Mundys run, others, like the pre wedding dinner at the awful in laws , are stiff, caricatured and relentlessly unfunny. And the cinematography, also by Burnett, is serviceable, at best.

Bottom line: Not as good as "Killer Of Sheep" (a masterpiece) but definitely worth a look, especially if you're a fan of the 70s/80s UCLA black film makers, as I am. Give it an A minus.

My Brother's Wedding (1983) was written and directed by Charles Burnett. I wanted and expected to enjoy this film, but I didn't.

There's an interesting backstory to the production. The movie was financed by a German TV corporation, which demanded a product by the agreed-upon deadline. Director Burnett gave them a long, rough cut version, that was widely praised in Germany. What we are seeing now is billed as a 78-minute director's cut, released by Milestone. Sounds interesting. Unfortunately, the resulting movie didn't work for me.

The talented Everett Silas plays Pierce Mundy, a young man who lives and works in South Central Los Angeles. Pierce is a good guy--well liked in the neighborhood, not involved in crime or drugs, and willing to care for his elderly relatives. If anything, he's too nice a guy, because he's loyal to his friend Soldier. Soldier has just been released from prison, and he's looking for trouble. (Or, at least, trouble finds him. Some of the plot involving Soldier appears to have been lost in the editing process.)

Probably for economic reasons, Director Burnett cast non-actors in all the other roles. That's a risky gamble. Some directors can pull amazing performances from amateurs, but Burnett could not. Most of the acting is at the level of a high school's senior class play. The people look right, but when they speak it doesn't sound at all natural. (Yes--that's a paradox. You have to be a trained actor to sound like someone who isn't a trained actor. Paradox or not, there it is.)

I respect the fact that other reviewers enjoyed this film. I was prepared to enjoy it too, but, even at 78 minutes, it dragged on and on for me. There weren't that many African-American directors working on serious films in the 1980's. So, for historical reasons, you may consider this film worth seeking out. However, I didn't enjoy it, and, as much as I would like to, I can't recommend it.

Incidentally, we saw this movie at the excellent Dryden Theatre of Eastman House in Rochester, NY. One of the other reviewers said it's available on DVD, but Dryden showed a Blu-Ray version. In any case, the film will work well on the small screen.

Milestone released two films by Charles Burnett last fall. His acclaimed Killer of Sheep, and this lesser known film. This film was originally released in 1983, but has been re-cut and re-released. This is the 2007 version that I am reviewing.

The slice of life that we see in this film is interesting, but confined mostly to dialog, with little action. Everett Silas stars as Pierce, an individual who is torn by his loyalty to his no-good friend, and his family. This is put to the test on Saturday as his friend dies on his brother's wedding day.

It is the little things that I found fascinating in this film - the fact that a 16-year-old is constantly flirting with Pierce, who is 30; the stark contrast with Pierce, a working man, and his brother the professional, and the siding of Pierce's mother with wealth; the two people he cares for who can't bathe themselves or take their medicine, and their preoccupation with religion, which also is huge with Pierce's mother. There is a wealth of material to draw upon for reflection, and Burnett has given us a good film.

I can't wait to see the original.