There are documentaries—featuring a handheld camera, on-screen text, and the like—that are obviously documentaries, and then there are those that almost play like feature films. With its whimsical score and slightly bleached-out color palette, Ben Mullinkosson's full-length debut falls into the latter category. As he observes his redheaded cousins over the course of a quotidian summer in Chevy Chase, Maryland, there's something a little hyperreal about it all, an impression reinforced by the brothers' model home and a leafy suburban neighborhood filled with cats, deer, rabbits, and squirrels. It's like a Wes Anderson home movie featuring untrained actors playing themselves.
Peter, 23, is the bigger brother and Matthew, who appears to be in middle school, is the smaller one. Due to a few odd pronouncements, like his belief that "c" is the best letter, Peter gives the impression that he may be on the autism spectrum (this impression turns out to be correct). He's also obsessed with the reality show Survivor and recreates episodes in which he plays several characters from the family living room. Each time, he votes off a family member who has ticked him off in some way, including Mathew and their unflappable sister, Kerry (she served as one of the film's camera operators). Matthew's oddest trait is a fear of dogs. It doesn't seem like the most unreasonable fear, except his mother, who takes him to a dog park regularly, has dedicated herself to helping him overcome it.
Like many siblings the world over, the brothers have a knack for getting on each other's nerves. Peter, for instance, likes to play a loud fan-fair on his phone to wake Matthew up in the mornings, and he can get exasperated when Matthew corrects one of his grammatical errors, but Mullinkosson mostly captures their closeness—and their facility with profanity. There's a lot unspoken in the film, like whether or not Peter has ever held a job or received special schooling, but it's not hard to see how much more difficult his life would be if he didn't have an open-hearted, non-judgmental brother on his side. Recommended.