{"id":570,"date":"2011-01-15T12:16:03","date_gmt":"2011-01-15T12:16:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/filmgaze.com\/blog\/?p=570"},"modified":"2011-01-15T12:16:04","modified_gmt":"2011-01-15T12:16:04","slug":"brotherhood-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmgaze.com\/blog\/thriller\/brotherhood-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Brotherhood – 3*"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Hazy about what a \u2018hazing\u2019 means, the subject of aspiring writer\/director Will Canon<\/a>\u2019s feature debut, Brotherhood<\/a><\/em>? Well, it\u2019s an initiation process involving harassment, and Canon\u2019s frenetic, coming-of-age thriller takes you along on a US fraternity one, imprisoning you in the frat boys\u2019 van from the word go, like an unwilling witness to the tragic acts to follow.<\/p>\n

Brotherhood<\/em> is gleefully energetic and somewhat intense from the start, almost theatrical in a way, where the characters actions propel the narrative forward, like a sinister farce, rather than reacting to surroundings out of their immediate control. These young men have created a world order of their own that collides with reality. In fact, the intriguing concept is the characters have the power to stop the catalogue of disasters happening at any time, but due to a misguided loyalty and peer pressure, feel they can\u2019t back down. It will have most logical-minded folk shaking their head in frustration and disbelief.<\/p>\n

A botched convenience store robbery, part of a college fraternity hazing, starts a catalyst for a series of events that forces new student and pledger Adam Buckley (Trevor Morgan<\/a>) to take a stand to save a friend and fellow pledger\u2019s life. Co-starring non-big-named actors Jon Foster<\/a>, Lou Taylor Pucci<\/a>, Arlen Escarpeta<\/a>, Jesse Steccato<\/a>, Luke Sexton<\/a> and Jennifer Sipes<\/a> among others, although fast-paced and action-orientated, the film manages to slow down to portray the principle characters\u2019 personalities and how they conflict, each dealing with ideas of justice, integrity and redemption.<\/p>\n

Indeed, Canon\u2019s film, born out of an eight-minute college short called Roslyn<\/em><\/a> <\/strong><\/em>feels like a very personal reflection on such a situation \u2013 although the director claims he\u2019s never experienced such a night like the one in the story \u2013 but without making their world seem alien to any audience. As the title states, it\u2019s about \u2018brotherhood\u2019, however misguided that unity might be, and it translates well in the extreme to the UK gang culture epidemic (as the media would have us believe), making the actions of Adam and co seem as believable in any place, whilst compacting the class barriers.<\/p>\n

In relation to class, what is quite disturbing is a supposed \u2018cream of the American educational crop\u2019 and possible future leaders having no more civility or self control than others less fortune or educated. In this respect, it\u2019s a compelling study of pact mentality, shot in a gritty indie style to give it added resonance and significance. However, there is a touch of the low-budget, college B movie to it at times, plus some characters that feel merely one-dimensional \u2013\u00a0always an issue with so many players on screen at once.<\/p>\n

That said Morgan is an exciting and promising acting talent, reminiscent of a young Sean Penn<\/a>, both passionate and fiery but level headed and trustworthy. Morgan carries many of the scenes, stealing the limelight away from the likes of more established players, like Taylor Pucci, at times, who plays his wounded friend, Kevin, whose life hangs in the balance. This could be Morgan\u2019s mark on the international film scene, if Brotherhood<\/em> reaches a mainstream audience.<\/p>\n

There is also a theatrical stand-off between the boys and their prisoner, a young black clerk called Mike (Escarpeta) who fuels many of aggressive, despotic and racist behaviour in a group who ought to know better. Canon could have delved further into uglier realms, here, although his end twist is a surprisingly unexpected one, showing the writer\/director has a talent for the genre.<\/p>\n

Brotherhood<\/em> demonstrates some promising filmmaking talent and a fresh new eye for the genre, even though Canon allows the story to lapse into low-budget titillation at times. As a pop culture piece, it has enough angst and momentum to grab the youth market\u2019s attention, and with an eager young cast on board, it will certainly prick the interest of such an audience.<\/p>\n

3\/5 stars<\/strong><\/p>\n

By L G-K<\/p>\n

<\/object><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hazy about what a \u2018hazing\u2019 means, the subject of aspiring writer\/director Will Canon\u2019s feature debut, Brotherhood? Well, it\u2019s an initiation process involving harassment, and Canon\u2019s frenetic, coming-of-age thriller takes you along on a US fraternity one, imprisoning you in the frat boys\u2019 van from the word go, like an unwilling witness to the tragic acts … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Brotherhood – 3*”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,6],"tags":[513,509,516,514,511,512,515,517,510,508],"class_list":["post-570","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-drama","category-thriller","tag-arlen-escarpeta","tag-brotherhood","tag-jennifer-sipes","tag-jesse-steccato","tag-jon-foster","tag-lou-taylor-pucci","tag-luke-sexton","tag-sean-penn","tag-trevor-morgan","tag-will-canon"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmgaze.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/570","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmgaze.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmgaze.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmgaze.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmgaze.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=570"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/filmgaze.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/570\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":574,"href":"https:\/\/filmgaze.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/570\/revisions\/574"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmgaze.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=570"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmgaze.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=570"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmgaze.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=570"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}