In Brother to Brother, a young gay African-American artist named Perry meets an elderly man in a homeless shelter who turns out to have been a poet during the Harlem Renaissance, which inspires extended flashbacks to the heady 1920s and early 1930s when the African-American cultural elite redefined the nation's literature, art, and music. The film is especially pointed in noting that many leading figures in the Harlem Renaissance were homosexual, and is clearly intended to address issues of being gay within contemporary African-American society. Unfortunately, the present-day storyline turns out to be the least compelling aspect of the film when compared to the fascinating Harlem Renaissance sections. Langston Hughes (wonderfully played by Daniel Sunjata) and Zora Neale Hurston (an equally fine Aunjanue Ellis) were extraordinary forces of creativity and personality, and their triumphs lay not only in reaching beyond the color line into white America's mindset but also in fighting back challenges of community censorship from an overly aggressive NAACP (this internal struggle within the African-American world is rarely cited in Harlem Renaissance history). The young protagonist Perry, on the other hand, can't help but pale next to the larger-than-life historic figures he learns about, and Anthony Mackie (although a fine young actor) never finds much depth in his character. Overall, one wishes director Rodney Evans had split up the film into two different projects, because the combined stories simply don't mesh. A strong optional purchase. (P. Hall)
Brother to Brother
Wolfe, 90 min., not rated, DVD: $24.95, June 14 Volume 20, Issue 3
Brother to Brother
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