Brother to Brother

Brother to Brother is an interesting film that highlights artists from the Harlem Renaissance and the similar plight contemporary African American artists face today. Like most first time film makers, Rodney Evans tries to accomplish too much in his first narrative film. That he succeeds as well as he does is a testament to his talent and love for his subject manner. This is a film about thoughts and concepts, conflict comes from a deeply internal place: How does a young black artist reconcile the duality of being Black and Gay. How do you handle it when other African-Americans hatred is stronger than the solidarity you want from them? The film is lyrical, appropriately poetic and sincere. Anthony Mackie is strong as the young artist (Perry) who stumbles across an elderly writer from the renaissance who has fallen on hard times, Bruce Nugent, wonderfully played by Roger Robinson. All the performances have charm and style. Brother to Brother is not a perfect film, but without making any special allowances it is an ambitious thoughtful film. It shows a time and place almost overlooked by the general public but worth more than a second look.

I was thoroughly impressed w/ Rodney Evan's Brother to Brother. It was a refreshing coming of age story. To add a historic context was genius. This movie was bold in that it brought to light the homosexual subtext of the Harlem Renaissance. BTB was not laden w/ stereotypical imagery that often plagues Black cinema. The setting was simple, one of which we can relate. My favorite scene was the skit that included James Balwin whereby Baldwin had to defend why being gay does nothing to hinder 'the movement.' Although Evans had many concurrent themes, the movie was not over-bearing. From familial troubles to inter-racial relationships, we saw that Perry's character was multi-dimensional Kudos!

BROTHER TO BROTHER is a first step in the right direction for Black gay film. Until now, all we've seen are campy, flamboyant caricatures, or deceitful, bisexual Black men destroying their families.

Anthony Mackie, I felt handled this role with great pride and dignity. I believe he captured the mindset of a young, angst ridden, creative, same gender loving soul. I'm actually considering renting SHE HATE ME when it comes out just to see his performance!

The one thing that bothered me (and I guess I'll have to rectify this when I write my films)) is the continued desire to show interracial coupling. Sure, it happens, but can we see some 'brother to brother' love once in awhile?

Overall, the film more than satisfied me. I have been in the habit, lately, of only going to see the mega-blockbuster films, but I'm glad I finally had a reason to get back to independent film. Finally, I'm seeing a part of me.

There is a strong and understandable tendency to over praise films dealing with or representing minority groups simply as a means of encouragement. It's all very well being supportive of a particular minority group, but biased criticism ultimately does nobody any good.

Countless of very mediocre gay themed movies have received disproportionate praise. With themes of being black as well as being gay, "Brother to Brother" is a perfect candidate for such slanted criticism.

Let me state clearly, that to my mind, "Brother to Brother" is in no way mediocre clearly having being made with much care and devotion. As others have pointed out, it's informative and educational in its depiction and discussions of the Harlem Renaissance about which not terribly much is known by the wider public. Rodney Evans proves himself a director and writer with a lot of promise.

However labelling this a "masterpiece" or "amazing" is to do a disservice to Evans. Hopefully he will go on to create masterpieces and amazing films but this is not it. "Brother to Brother" has much to recommend it. The performances are solid, the dialogue flows, the characters are interesting, and the cinematography is way above the average for a first time indie effort. For all this Rodney Evans certainly deserves praise.

With all the genuine will to encourage young black, (or gay) film makers, it's important to keep focus on the real quality of the work. "Brother to Brother" despite it merits doesn't quite make the grade.

I couldn't disagree more with the person who described the film as "dreadful."

I am no great critic of film but I saw this film at the Philadelphia International Gay & Lesbian Film Festival (PIGLFF) and enjoyed it and was ultimately moved by it.

I detected a moment of spotty acting in an early scene; otherwise, I found the film to be professional and polished. It deals with themes of parenting, maturation, relations across generations, race, friendship, sexuality, homophobia, perception, the life, role and integrity of an artist in one's culture.

It provides an interesting and enticing view into the Harlem Renaissance, a place and time I was not that familiar with.

It was well received by the audience I viewed it with, and I recommend it.