... it is more than welcome, full of generous quotations and ancestor worship-a memory book, a bildungsroman, and practically a palimpsest, with the past written over but not at all erased, still signifying.

Full Review | Jan 19, 2018

Evans's admirable desire to introduce a misunderstood era's legacy to a wider public helps to excuse the film's occasional clunky dialogue and narrative longueurs.

Full Review | Sep 29, 2017

Takes on a plethora of phobias. Homophobia, racial prejudice and age discrimination are among its targets, and it hits them squarely and fairly.

Full Review | Original Score: B- | Apr 21, 2005

An uneven but provocative drama.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4 | Feb 18, 2005

A very good drama about the difficulties of being young, black, and gay. With a bigger budget and a sharper focus, it might have been a great one.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Feb 4, 2005

Works far better as an idea than its execution.

Full Review | Jan 27, 2005

Ambitious but clumsy, it's a movie to appreciate rather than to be engaged by.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4 | Dec 9, 2004

There are a couple of self-conscious moments, to be sure, and some anachronisms, but on the whole, Brother to Brother is a graceful work of range and depth.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | Dec 3, 2004

Offers fascinating historical context and two fine lead performances (by Anthony Mackie and Roger Robinson) along with some rather awkward storytelling.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4 | Nov 19, 2004

[Evans'] overall effort is an eminently worthy one.

Full Review | Nov 11, 2004

An intelligent and entertaining exploration of racial and sexual politics that brings alive the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s, and draws parallels with African-American identity crises of today.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Nov 5, 2004

Mackie gives a moving performance as Perry.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Nov 5, 2004

The filmmaker's frankness and sincerity win out over his schematic tying-up of past and present and the stagy historical- recreation feel of the period sections.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Nov 4, 2004

Caught between two worlds and two seemingly warring identities, the lead character in Rodney Evans's heartfelt film Brother to Brother wears the weary and worried look of a man divided.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Nov 4, 2004

The filmmaker finds a way to pay homage to a lesser-known, valiant figure, sympathetically portrayed through Robinson's witty performance.

Full Review | Original Score: B+ | Nov 3, 2004

Not surprising for a film that uses a term paper as a framing device, Brother to Brother feels too much like a school project.

Full Review | Nov 2, 2004

Brother to Brother looks back to the pioneering days of the Harlem Renaissance and traces its spiritual manifestation in present day New York City.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Oct 26, 2004

While the cast is uneven, Mackie and Robinson both create sensitive, sympathetic characters.

Full Review | Oct 7, 2004

Has the quiet urgency of a story that must be told.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Jul 23, 2004

This first feature from writer-director Rodney Evans ... heralds the emergence of an exciting new voice in black filmmaking, a man willing to look deeply into culture and mores to gain insight into problems that refuse to go away.

Full Review | May 1, 2004