Brother

This Canadian made drama is based around the relationship between the brothers Francis (Aaron Pierre) and Micheal (Lamar John), sons of Black Caribbean immigrants, this film examines how they grow individually and together whilst growing up during the 1990s in the Scarborough district of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Growing up in the middle of the newly developing hip-hop scene of Toronto, this film follows Francis and Micheal as they deal with feelings of masculinity, familial ties, and identity. These interesting and deeply personal issues are explored excellently due to the excellent script by Clement Virgo, who also directs the film. The writing is skilful as it brings up multiple questions of what masculinity really is and what makes up Black life, with the overarching question of the film being where can Black boys go to for support whilst growing up. These vital questions which are so important in modern society are examined and explored in a skilful way which encourages thought and engagement from the audience, forcing the audience to question and reflect on how they feel about these issues. These questions are so deeply explored because of the standout performances by Aaron Pierre and Lamar John, with such strong and emotional performances they truly capture that feeling of unknowing that is all too common when growing up. This allows these questions to be explored so deeply as the performances invest the audience in these issues which forces that level of reflection from the audience, with not a gap in their varied performances, they manage to present every single emotion in such a personal way that the audience cannot help but be convinced and immersed in the story. Clement Virgo is clearly just as skilled as a director as he is a writer, as the cinematography truly makes this film stand out as it explores this vibrant area of Toronto in such a way that it truly represents how important it is to those that reside there. With the cinematography able to match the strongly emotional performances and script, it allows the film to avoid losing its message in any element of the film. Making everything so much more impactful, and by extent, the film far more moving

James Patt