My Brother the Devil

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Day 151 of 365 of my year long challenge

Week 22: LGBT

Sydney's annual Mardi Gras celebration is just around the corner. Let's party!
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The London gangster genre is hardly a fresh one. With almost every angle mined and milked to exhaustion, Sally El Hosaini's My Brother the Devil seems to be a breath of fresh air. Whether this is the case is open to debate but there's no denying the film seems to succeed more often than not.

Mo (Fady Elsayed) and Rashid "Rash" (James Floyd) are young brothers growing up on a council estate. Having just finished school, Mo is the brains while Rash, having lost himself in low-level drug dealing, is the brawn. With time on his hands, Mo, who looks up to and idolises Rash, slowly but surely becomes a part of this seedy little world of local gangs. Rash, on the other hand, is moved by the death of a friend and the discovery of another to try and get out of this world. This new friend, Sayyid (Said Taghmaoui) is a photographer who offers Rash this opportunity. With Mo feeling jealous and alone, the gangs circling and rumours afoot, Rash's world starts to shrink as he is ostracised by those he loves.

Having gone into this with as little knowledge as possible, I'll admit I was pleasantly surprised. There is a rawness and honesty to My Brother the Devil that makes it surprisingly open, believable and engaging. Nothing here seems to be exaggerated which, given the ranging subtlety and broadness of the film, is impressive. The film does, however, become self-absorbed and self-indulgent in moments that appear to exist only to make the film (or its director) more impressive than it really is.

At the heart of it all though are Elsayed and Floyd. Elsayed's younger brother is a mixture of adoration, resentment and confused anger that feels entirely honest though petulantly one note. I pity Mo for everything he has to put up, most of all his constant emasculation, but he equally destroys any interest I have in him for just being another angry teenager. It's the relationship with his brother that carries him and, further, Floyd carries the pair and the film. From moments of quiet subtlety to outbursts of loud, expletive-laden anger, Rash is certainly a deeper character than is initially apparent. Floyd embodies the role so whole-heartedly with enthusiasm, ambition and enough raw emotion to really feel for him.

As mentioned, there's a simpler subtlety to the introduction of a gay romance here. Little moments build to the inevitable kiss. This may be as predictable as it comes in this regard but the film handles it well, often in ways that don't seem so obviously apparent or unnecessarily forced. Likewise, everyone's reaction to the relationship seems genuine, whether it be out of confusion, conservative tradition or a misplaced idea of masculinity. As always, fear and confusion seem to rule the day.

Sadly, the film follows a predictable enough plot that comes to a head in a disappointingly generic ending. I'm not saying I can think of anything better but I certainly wouldn't have been disappointed if anything else happened. There's a good film in My Brother the Devil, it's just trapped by self-imposed limits.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day 151 of 365 of my year long challenge

Week 22: LGBT

Sydney's annual Mardi Gras celebration is just around the corner. Let's party!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The London gangster genre is hardly a fresh one. With almost every angle mined and milked to exhaustion, Sally El Hosaini's My Brother the Devil seems to be a breath of fresh air. Whether this is the case is open to debate but there's no denying the film seems to succeed more often than not.

Mo (Fady Elsayed) and Rashid "Rash" (James Floyd) are young brothers growing up on a council estate. Having just finished school, Mo is the brains while Rash, having lost himself in low-level drug dealing, is the brawn. With time on his hands, Mo, who looks up to and idolises Rash, slowly but surely becomes a part of this seedy little world of local gangs. Rash, on the other hand, is moved by the death of a friend and the discovery of another to try and get out of this world. This new friend, Sayyid (Said Taghmaoui) is a photographer who offers Rash this opportunity. With Mo feeling jealous and alone, the gangs circling and rumours afoot, Rash's world starts to shrink as he is ostracised by those he loves.

Having gone into this with as little knowledge as possible, I'll admit I was pleasantly surprised. There is a rawness and honesty to My Brother the Devil that makes it surprisingly open, believable and engaging. Nothing here seems to be exaggerated which, given the ranging subtlety and broadness of the film, is impressive. The film does, however, become self-absorbed and self-indulgent in moments that appear to exist only to make the film (or its director) more impressive than it really is.

At the heart of it all though are Elsayed and Floyd. Elsayed's younger brother is a mixture of adoration, resentment and confused anger that feels entirely honest though petulantly one note. I pity Mo for everything he has to put up, most of all his constant emasculation, but he equally destroys any interest I have in him for just being another angry teenager. It's the relationship with his brother that carries him and, further, Floyd carries the pair and the film. From moments of quiet subtlety to outbursts of loud, expletive-laden anger, Rash is certainly a deeper character than is initially apparent. Floyd embodies the role so whole-heartedly with enthusiasm, ambition and enough raw emotion to really feel for him.

As mentioned, there's a simpler subtlety to the introduction of a gay romance here. Little moments build to the inevitable kiss. This may be as predictable as it comes in this regard but the film handles it well, often in ways that don't seem so obviously apparent or unnecessarily forced. Likewise, everyone's reaction to the relationship seems genuine, whether it be out of confusion, conservative tradition or a misplaced idea of masculinity. As always, fear and confusion seem to rule the day.

Sadly, the film follows a predictable enough plot that comes to a head in a disappointingly generic ending. I'm not saying I can think of anything better but I certainly wouldn't have been disappointed if anything else happened. There's a good film in My Brother the Devil, it's just trapped by self-imposed limits.