‘Brother’ Review: Growing Up Grieving

Michael (Lamar Johnson), the protagonist of “Brother,” is a quiet teen typically uncertain of himself, a trait that’s notably pronounced as he strikes by the world subsequent to Francis (Aaron Pierre), his self-possessed and bodily imposing older brother. Michael’s coming-of-age story takes place within the shadow of Francis, who desires Michael to discover ways to higher carry himself. The two youngsters, each Black, are rising up in a poor, largely immigrant neighborhood of Toronto’s Scarborough district.

Written and directed by the Canadian filmmaker Clement Virgo and primarily based on a novel of the identical identify by David Chariandy, the movie flits throughout time, principally between Michael as a excessive schooler, when he follows Francis round Scarborough, and 10 years later, lengthy after tragedy has struck, when Michael has been left to care for his or her grieving mom, Ruth (Marsha Stephanie Blake).

Shot with a moody, stylized palette and backed by a stirring rating, Virgo’s work has the items of what it so desperately strives to be: a poignant coming-of-age drama about masculinity, the traps and the fragility of it; about grief; and concerning the social realities of a sure Black immigrant expertise. At instances it may be. But it turns into fixated on imbuing itself with solemnity, fairly than organically incomes it. The in the end sparse dramatic components right here really feel extra suited to a brief movie; in a feature-length manufacturing, they grow to be too skinny to assist the large emotions and weighty themes the film desires to depart us with.

Brother
Not rated. Running time: 1 hour 59 minutes. In theaters and accessible to lease or purchase on most main platforms.