Brother (2019)

8/10

kosmasp18 June 2020

There's more to certain things than meet the eye. A powerful story about two brothers who have a rough and violent father. Sometimes there is only one escape from that, as wrong as that may be. Not that I condone violence of any sort. This movie feels real and we do get intertwining storylines that further our understanding of why and how we got where we are.

Once in the system, the harsh reality is that the world is rough and the strong ones make up the rules. It's gritty, it is down and dirty and it will leave you with quite the gut punch and should be something you may remember for some time ... especially with those really good performances

3 out of 3 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

7/10

Very good film overall, but with a poor ending

Rotkiv899 December 2019

What makes the film good is the story that manages to capture the viewer's emotions for real, the superb acting, cinematography and editing, intense brutality without showing too much or exaggerating the violence. The violence in the film is almost always only suggested and underlying, a feeling that at any minute something really bad can happen, a very effective way of keeping the viewer's attention up. The negative thing about the film is that the short minutes at the end does not feel as well thought out and planned as the rest of the film, and the "twist" at the end feels exaggerated and made to get some kind of surprise effect on the viewer, but it does not work well and the end's somewhat abrupt still image makes it feel like that they rushed it together. Otherwise, it is a very well-made and fine film, important but incredibly tragic and disturbing to watch.

5 out of 8 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

9/10

Poignant.

searchanddestroy-124 August 2020

This film reminds me LES HAUTS MURS, another film made in 2008 and adapted from an Auguste Le Breton's novel. Here we find the same atmosphere, same kind of characters and the relationships that exist between them. A very accurate picture of young delinquents, most of them raised by foster families, who never knew their actual parents, who never grew with love, affection or friendship. But I think it could have been better, more moving. The potential was there but the film makers seemed to hesitate to go further. Acting is over the top, except the scene where the mother meets her boys after several years. She should have been surprised, astonished, but no, she seemed to wait for them after only one week end of separation. I would also have preferred another darker ending.

4 out of 4 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

5/10

A powerful, violent and moving drama

FrenchEddieFelson5 August 2019

A film dedicated to chavs, with a relatively elaborate scenario and quite successful characters despite fairly predictable clichés. The adolescents Darren Muselet and MHD play excellently, as well as the adults Jalil Lespert and Mark Grosy. I particularly enjoyed the scene alternating two events: 1) boxing between MHD (the alleged delinquent) and Aïssa Maïga (the shrink) and 2) the violent scene between MHD (the son) and Mark Grosy (the father).

As a synthesis: a lot of emotion despite a poor sense of nuance. 5/6 of 10

10 out of 20 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

User Reviews

See also

Opinion

Details

Storyline

Did You Know?

Photo & Video

Related Items

User Lists

Recently Viewed