brothertobrother

SYNOPSIS - BROTHER TO BROTHER

Combining an intensely sexual and
dramatic story set today with a memory
film-within-a-film set in '30s Harlem,
Brother to Brother is one of the most
original and ambitious films of the year.

REVIEW

Perry (Mackie) is a gay
African-American artist/student, whose
life and loves is one focus of this
original and compelling film. The other
focus is the memory story of Bruce
Nugent, a poet and painter of Harlem
Renaissance, who Perry meets on the
street. Perry is a young very
handsome guy who battles
homophobia in his classes, as hip
straight African-American artists slam
the black gay experience. He falls in
lust with a blonde-haired classmate Jim
(Burns) who, it turns out, fetishizes his
lover for his "sweet lips and black ass."
Depressed over his experiences, Perry
spirits pick up when he meets older,
down-on-his-luck, artist Bruce Nugent
(Robinson). Nugent was an integral,
yet forgotten part of the Harlem
Renaissance. He's a painter and poet
filled with memories of his intense
relationships with Langston Hughes,
Zora Neale Hurston and Wallace
Thurman. Nugent takes his new friend
Perry (and us) into his memory world
where we see these literary lions going
to parties, dishing each other and of
course, having sex! Back to current
day, the friendship between these men
brings both to new creative heights
and the audience a great story.
Rodney Evans is a director to watch --
Brother to Brother is sure to be the
beginning of a great career.
-- Scott Cranin