Brother to Brother

Unless I missed something in the screening I saw tonight, we had a college age kid get involved with a man who had to be at least 100 years old.

The premise was a young sensitive black and gay student who's going through his own angst happens to meet up with a survivor from the Harlem Renaissance era of the 1920s. Anthony Mackie as the student and Roger Robinson as the artist/survivor both give fine performances and I was deeply moved. A lot of issues that they talked about are as relevant today as during the 1920s, although God knows a whole lot of history has occurred in the intervening years.

After the film though I started thinking. Roger Robinson looks about 75 in the film, he was born in 1940 which would make him sixty five. But 105 would be a more appropriate age if we're to believe he was hanging out with Langston Hughes, Zora Hurston, etc. back in the day. I'm sure some other people had to realize that as well.

In order to make the film more plausible, the writer and director should have placed the modern story circa 1980. That would have been more believable with the players ages.

Still and all, it's a deeply moving film and one to be seen and treasured.

PS. After writing this review I looked up Richard Bruce Nugent and found that he was born in 1906, died in 1987 and that he died in Hoboken, New Jersey.

We just had an amazing screening of BROTHER TO BROTHER in Minneapolis last night. The response to the film and filmmaker was overwhelmingly positive. Not only did the audience love the film, but the press was also wild about it. Some of the conservative African American newspapers wrote some of the most positive pieces about the film surprisingly. Having such great press created an audience that was extremely mixed in terms of race and gender. During the Q & A with the filmmaker, it became obvious that his film touched on subject matter that had deep meaning for audience members no matter their background.

I'm so happy that this film has been picked up for distribution because it is essential that it's seen by a wider audience. If you have the opportunity to see the film, don't pass it up!

"Brother to Brother" just won the two most coveted awards at the Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Film Festival - otherwise known as Outfest. The Audience Award for Best Feature and the Jury Prize for Best Feature! And I was one of over a thousand queerfolk who voted them into the first award. This film is amazing!

The Harlem Renaissance was a seminal period in African American history; one that can be seen to have repercussions through to Stonewall and beyond. Sadly, it was one of the only times in our history where African American queers and other "outcasts" created and published their own voices for the world to see, read, and hear. And hear it they did.

Some of the most powerful and important queer poetry and prose were written during this time by the likes of the incredible Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, Wallace Thurman, and of course, Bruce Nugent; one of the main characters in this story.

Over the course of befriending Perry, a present-day artist/student trying to find his own voice in the world, Bruce recounts some of his own history with his radical, groundbreaking friends.

The film is exquisitely composed. The music created for "Brother to Brother" is eloquent and evocative and perfectly reflects and tints the images and perspectives within the story. Organic timing creates an engaging flow of story and character which passes back and forth from past to present and back; revealing at once how much and how little has changed over the last 80 years of Black (and queer) history.

All in all, this film ends as handsome Perry begins to find a clearer path for himself in the world. It ultimately gives us much of value that is even more than the sum of its respective parts. Most importantly, it shows us ourselves - beautiful, flawed, real human beings who seek nothing more than to have a voice, to give and receive love, and to make life as good as it can be.

This is one film which fully deserves its place in movie theaters and in DVD collections.

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.

Brother to Brother was not the film that I thought I would see -- which I gladly welcomed. The film is promoted as being about gay artists in the Harlem

Renaissance. This is only a small portion of this story -- specifically seen

through the eyes of one character.

The film features the friendship of two artists from different eras. Both are black men, gay and self-confident. The script brilliantly weaves a narrative that

illustrates the personal and political struggles that each man addresses in the past and present. Most of the story is free of hackneyed predictable plot twists. Complex issues regarding interracial relationships and objectification are

introduced in a very delicate manner -- great food for thought. Characters such as the two leads are rarely seen in film -- commercial or indie. The

performances by the entire cast is very strong, particularly by the actor

portraying Bruce Nugent. Having been one of the few who saw Spike Lee's

"She Hate Me," I was pleasantly surprised to see Anthony Mackie in the lead

role also providing a very strong performance.

One pet-peave that was distracting: cinematography. Many scenes are shot out

of focus -- not good, particularly in a somewhat dramatic scene with Langston Hughes and the younger Bruce. Even with a shoestring budget, there is no

excuse for showing sloppy work. Aside from this minor flaw in the film, I found extremely refreshing and worth discussing.