Posted: 10/25/2004

Brother to Brother

(2004)

by Todd Lillethun

Brother to Brother is a feature length narrative film which follows the emotional and psychological journey of a young Black gay artist as he discovers the hidden legacies of the gay and lesbian subcultures within the Harlem Renaissance.

Recalling the poetry of Marlon Riggs short Tongues Untied (1990), this film fleshes out the ideas of its predecessor into a feature length drama, about gay African-Americans reckoning with homophobia in its own community. Perry Williams (played by Anthony Mackie) is a young, gay black artist in New York City looking for love and his place in the world. He meets Bruce Nugent, an older homeless man (played by Roger Robinson) who frequents the shelter where he works, and discovers that they have common bonds. Bruce regales his young protégé with stories about the Harlem Renaissance, his fraternizing with Langston Hughes, James Baldwin, Zora Neale Hurston, Wallace Thurman, and starting the famous literary journal “Fire!” Cutting back and forth in time between the two stories creates an interesting intergenerational dialogue, while making correlations to today’s issues, particularly racism, tokenism, stereotypes, and selling out.

Unfortunately, the film’s ambitions are greater than its attempts, especially in areas such as period recreation (transparent both in style and substance), and the script is overly rhetorical and issue-laden to carry much emotion or character. Mackie and Robinson deliver sincere performances, but much of the other acting is uneven. To be fair, the film did win the Sundance Special Jury Prize this year, and yet that comes as no surprise since the story’s mechanics are shopworn Sundance traditions (such as the risible beach scene at the film’s end). Filmmakers would do well to steer clear of these common elements when trying to break new ground.

Still, there is much to recommend Brother to Brother, and the effort behind the final product is laudable.

For more information on this film, visit their official site here.

Todd Lillethun writes for FilmMonthly but does not yet own any bamboo, though it is currently in vogue.

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