‘Brother’ Review: Aaron Pierre Gives A Star-Making Statement In A Clement Virgo Gem

Two Jamaican-Canadian brothers hailing from Scarborough, a neighborhood in Toronto, look up at a soaring transmission tower. The older sibling Francis (Aaron Pierre, “The Underground Railroad”) explains to his younger brother Michael (Lamar Johnson, “The Hate U Give”) that the higher you climb, the more the reverberations of the electricity buzz and shake you. If you make one false move, it can instantly fry you. But they can make it to the top for the area’s best view if Michael follows Francis’ every motion. These inseparable siblings could not be more different; Francis is handsome, broad, and undaunted. Michael is hesitant and tiny. Nevertheless, the pair implicitly trust each other. And they begin, step-by-step, climbing the tower that will become a metaphor for their lives.

Fast forward ten years, and Michael isn’t a wide-eyed teen anymore. He meets an old friend from the neighborhood, Aisha (Kiana Madeira, “Fear Street”), who’s returned to stay with Michael and his quiet and confused mother (a stunning Marsha Stephanie Blake, “I’m Your Woman”). For reasons that are initially unclear, Francis is gone. His departure left a hole in the people who knew him. And they must find some way to process the loss that still hangs over them like those buzzing power lines. 

Veteran Canadian director Clement Virgo’s “Brother,” adapted from David Chariandy’s same-titled novel, is a movie about memory and grief, stasis and regret, told in whispered tones and with longing poeticism. 

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