BROTHER -- A Powerful Look at Relationships and Familial Roles

Review by Jonathan Berk

Director Clement Virgo’s film Brother weaves three time periods together to show the lives of Michael (Lamar Johnson), his older brother Francis (Aaron Pierre), and their mother Ruth (Marsha Stephanie Blake) living in Toronto. The film opens with a shot of power lines fading into the horizon, with the camera pulling back slowly to reveal two brothers when they’re high school age. Framed beneath a transmission tower, Francis begins explaining to Michael why they will climb it, and how the higher they go, the more risky it will be. He states that every step they make must be precise and with intention, or it could lead to their death. The metaphor is clear from the opening, having an immediate impact on the audience. 

Most of the story takes place during their childhood, and then we reunite with them ten years later in their adulthood. The later timeline is also the first time we meet Aisha (Kiana Madeira), as Michael picks her up from the bus stop. The story's structure allows the film to feel like a mystery for us to decipher. It becomes clear to us that Francis will not be part of this part of the story, so we are left to wonder and anticipate what happened. The same is true with our first encounter with Aisha. She's returning, and there is clearly a history with her and the brothers, but we don’t yet know what it was. The jumping between the three timelines really allows the viewer to build the story with the film and try anticipate what led them to their current situations. The young sequence seems so full of hope, and the oldest so bleak. We now want to answer what led to this dramatic shift in perspectives and prospects for our characters.

The production design helps sell the film. For example, the boys' bedroom with bunk beds that is full of love in the two early time periods feels sad and desolate in the third. The city and the few places we see the brothers living in sell the feeling of the era. It is all made more impactful via the cinematography by Guy Godfree and the score by Todor Kobakov. The feel and look of the movie are so essential to getting the vibe of the time and what the boys are going through.

Pierre and Johnson are both very great in this film, but Johnson’s character takes a little more to understand. Francis is the man of the house, and it’s established in the youngest sequences that he takes that role seriously. Yet, it also weighs heavy on his shoulders, and it becomes apparent much later on how much of a burden it truly is. Michael seems content with being the younger brother with much less responsibility, which makes his character more frustrating in the later timeline. He’s taken the role from the now-absent Francis, but he doesn’t seem comfortable in it at all. Still, both actors deliver incredible performances full of nuance and heart. 

Brother is a powerful movie with well-written characters. There are several elements of the story that will feel familiar, but the presentation of them makes them feel revitalized. It's a quiet film that will make you reflect on the events and process why the characters make the choices they do. 
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Brother will be in theaters and on VOD on August 4.

Rating: 4/5