joelsink Watched "Brother to Brother" last night and thought it was excellent. A small movie shot on a small budget that packed more punch than many of the pathetic H'wood Blockbusters I've seen over the past year. You don't have to be black or gay to appreciate the artistry of this film. This is a story of a young black man coming to terms with two different prejudices, his being black, and his being gay. He meets gay writer Bruce Nugent who with other prominent artist of his day pushed the envelope of acceptance on many different levels. The flashbacks to Nugen't youth are beautifully done with period music. While it was obvious that this was a low budget film, that fact didn't take anything away from the movie. It only made me respect the makers even more for crafting such a fine film without the mega-budgets usually given to film makers. Most all of the actors did fine jobs here. Rent/buy this movie, let the studios know that there is a market for this type of film - one with heart and soul.

bkoganbing Unless I missed something in the screening I saw tonight, we had a college age kid get involved with a man who had to be at least 100 years old. The premise was a young sensitive black and gay student who's going through his own angst happens to meet up with a survivor from the Harlem Renaissance era of the 1920s. Anthony Mackie as the student and Roger Robinson as the artist/survivor both give fine performances and I was deeply moved. A lot of issues that they talked about are as relevant today as during the 1920s, although God knows a whole lot of history has occurred in the intervening years.After the film though I started thinking. Roger Robinson looks about 75 in the film, he was born in 1940 which would make him sixty five. But 105 would be a more appropriate age if we're to believe he was hanging out with Langston Hughes, Zora Hurston, etc. back in the day. I'm sure some other people had to realize that as well.In order to make the film more plausible, the writer and director should have placed the modern story circa 1980. That would have been more believable with the players ages.Still and all, it's a deeply moving film and one to be seen and treasured.PS. After writing this review I looked up Richard Bruce Nugent and found that he was born in 1906, died in 1987 and that he died in Hoboken, New Jersey.

Fred Every actor was excellent, I grew up on James Baldwin and lived through the early civil rights fight. Although not Aferican American my self, I think the movie had a strong message for all people no matter what their sexual orientation is or the color of their skin. I just went on line an bought it, since our PBS station obviously cut the film (at least they warned us prior to showing it). So I can see the full content of the movie.Having been young and gay and now not elderly but "fabulous" I can relate the both of those times in a gay man's life. It was refreshing to see some one played so realistically. I hope we see more films from this group of people

preecherkid These are the three words that I would use to describe Brother to Brother. Evans does an awesome job of linking the issues of society during the Harlem Renaissance and those of today. He shows us that not much has changed in all these years with the perceptions of gay black life. We're still dealing with other people's misconceptions of what gay life is. Evans imagery of the past and future are excellent complements of each other. We get to see how 4 well know black writers dealt with issues back then and how those same issues are dealt with today.The other contrasting imagery he uses is with the age difference between Perry and Bruce. Is it OK for an older man to befriend a younger man? While the gay community seems to have a problem with this, Perry learns that the older gentleman has a lot to share with him. Evans is brilliant in showing us the other side of the hill. In the gay community, once you hit 30, you're old and no one wants you. Evans does an excellent job of pointing this out and is one of the only themes he seems to tie up. No matter how hot you are when you're young, you're going to end up old and lonely in the end.The older black gay community is non existent and there is no one passing this history down to the younger generation. I saw this movie in February, Black History Month, and must say it was an eye opener. Evans touched upon many different aspects of the gay community but mainly the gay black community. I think the reason that he didn't make this a Cinderella ending is because as a community we are still searching for the answers to many of his points.