"Brother to Brother" is one of the most ambitious independent films ever made around the subject of being both black and gay. It is a film that tells two stories: the story of a contemporary black man, Perry Williams, who has been rejected by his family and who befriends a faded giant of the Harlem Renessaince, Richard Bruce Nugent. The second story is a flashback to the Harlem Renessaince and the friendships and radical politics of Nugent, Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, Wallace Thurman and Aaron Douglas.
The movie explores black cultural contemporary views of homosexuality by reflecting them off of the experiences of a group of black creative geniuses who fought to realize their vision of a freer, more open society.
There is only one moment in the film that bristles me. When Perry ends a brief affair with a white man after that white man expresses his appreciation for Perry's physicality in racial terms. It just doesn't ring true to my experiences as either the giver or receiver of such compliments. You can't pretend that you're not what you are, and if someone from another race with whom you've been intimate says that the color of your skin is beautiful and a turn on, why the hell would you be offended?
It's a brief moment in an otherwise amazing film.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment