My Brother's Wedding

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.

It was great to view this film by Charles Burnett, who wrote the story and directed the film and also did the camera work. Burnett was working on a budget and was able to obtain left over color film from MGM who were willing to sell him this film for his picture. This film deals mostly with a great actor, Pierce Mundy, (Everett Silas) who is a hard working son in his mother and fathers dry cleaning business and Pierce is a very kind and giving person who cares for his mother and father and takes good care of his grandparents. Pierce has a brother who has become a lawyer and he intends to marry a very rich pretty young gal and Pierce does not seem to get along with his brother or his future in-laws. The film is very funny and it also has its serious moments where Pierce has to face a decision whether to attend his brothers wedding or go to his best friends funeral. Don't miss this film, it is a great masterpiece by Charles Burnett.

After seeing other Burnett features, I actually liked this one the best. It portrays the life of Pierce, an African American man living in a poor area of LA, but it is completely different than other "life in the ghetto" films, particularly of the 1990s. Burnett focuses on the details of ordinary life, with close-ups of shoes, leaves, etc.--the things that form our everyday experience. Scenes that might become "action sequences" in another film are here treated in an de-sensationalized way, as normal events alongside other events like running to catch the bus or taking care of your grandparents. It puts a great deal of emphasis on humor, the quirky relationships between family members, and the way that feelings build up without dramatic movie conversations. It feels like real life; it doesn't sweep you up in emotion like a melodrama, but rather forces you to experience the film at a slight distance, but not so much that it become unpleasurable-- just enough to make you consider the issues the film brings up.

In his comments after a screening I attended, Burnett said that the film to him is about responsibility. The main character Pierce is constantly doing things for others and doesn't seem to have his own goals in life. The title comes from the conflict Pierce faces towards the end of the film: does he attend his best friend's funeral or his brother's wedding? This dilemma illustrates Pierce's indecision and also the way that he is torn between his brother's upwardly mobile lifestyle and his own aimless wanderings around the city with his ex-con best friend.

All in all, I would urge you to try to see this film--it was unavailable for a long time, but is now on a double DVD set with Killer of Sheep. Burnett's work gives a completely different take on African American cinema, one that has not been recognized in the mainstream.

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.