short trips to new york city and detroit, michigan

I'll post more on this later, but . . . . Four Brothers is an excellent movie. The plot is amazing - as complex as a Piranesi prison and surprising. There's a lot to keep track of mentally. You often have to believe two or three different plots are possible at once. The editing, particularly in the most violent scenes, tends to obscure rather than anything else, which was frustrating at the theater, but now seems brilliant. The showdown on the frozen lake? Pittsburgh, you've got to see this, particularly you, AntiRust, if you're reading this . . .

However, anyone who goes to see this will have to set aside their notions of "Black American Cinema" as a "New Realism" and embrace a kind of baroque macabre sentimental melodrama . . . More like a mid-century film noir (as they say) or, that classic of family and violence, The Godfather.

Wait, now that I go to the website, I see its due out Aug 12. I DID see a preview version, I thought so - hopefully they won't over simplify things in the final version. Like I said, there is a lot going on, both emotionally, and in the plot but it all, finally, works together. There ARE a few really weak lines of dialog that the amazing actors have to carry. And sometimes its a bit much for them because they aren't all that amazing . . .

Categories: film