This looks pretty stylish. It’s in 1.66:1, no shakycam and the edits last longer than half a second.
But… er… the performances are kinda… er… earnest…
This is really well made. It’s got a nice flow, and it’s got great music going on the bits that need music, and it’s silent otherwise.
So is this a magic realism thing? After half an hour, it’s finally clear what the movie’s gonna be about — it’s this guy who was a poet during the Harlem Renaissance (i.e., the 1920s) who’s meeting up with this young gay guy?
(They didn’t have colours back in the olden days.)
I love all these shots from around Manhattan. But it’s such a choppy movie. There’s scenes here that are like “ooo” and then there’s scenes that are “zzz”, and it’s just bewildering.
The soundtrack is still fantastic.
But the magazine they’re publishing — Fire!! — sounds really cool. And there was a reprint in 1985? *shopping*
This may not be a “good movie”, but it’s interesting, and I’m glad I watched it.
Brother to Brother. Rodney Evans. 2004. ⚃
Webmentions
[…] years back, I watched a movie set during the Harlem Renaissance, and the characters were putting together this literary magazine called FIRE!!. So naturally I […]