Brother (LFF Review): A Perfect Literary Adaptation

Immaculately structured and impressively transferred from page to screen, Brother retains the ferocity, tangibility and emotional heft of David Chariandy’s novel.

Electricity is a driving force in Brother, Clement Virgo’s (Poor Boy’s Game) sublime adaptation of the award-winning novel of the same name. Quite apart from its opening of its two titular brothers beginning their ascent of an imposing pylon, electricity symbolically contributes to the film’s strong familial bonds between its characters as well its charged, dangerous atmosphere, even seeping into Todor Kobakov’s (Closet Monster) original score, which is infused with an ominous, powerful buzz. Virgo’s impressive use of symbolism here is just one way in which he transfers the unforgettable story of Brother to the big screen, and with world-building close to the same level seen in films from legendary directors such as Edward Yang, his adaptation becomes a complex, important film with both a deeply personal tangent and a collective significance.

Chariandy’s 2017 novel is a succinct and poignant story that draws on his own experiences of growing up in Scarborough, Ontario, an area in Canada known for its immigrant-heavy population and unfair reputation as a hotbed for crime. Like the novel, Virgo’s Brother charts the lives of brothers Francis (Aaron Pierre, Old) and Michael (Lamar Johnson, Dark Phoenix) over three distinct time periods, as they grow up navigating racism, police brutality and familial strife. The sons of first-generation immigrants from the West Indies, their world is a striking setting of merging cultures and influences, as well as a place clearly undervalued by its country.

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