FEATURE FILM REVIEW
BROTHERLY LIES
Two estranged brothers—one recovering from a suicide attempt, the other about to be married—are forced to confront a deadly secret from their past.
MAJOR HEAVY DRAMA alert - and that's not a bad thing. Lex and David are brothers; Lex is gay and appears to be an out-of-work or just down-on-his-luck actor, while David is married to Laura, who works for the government. David is a screenwriter or film producer of some sort, and they have gathered in the Hollywood Hills in their family home. It is a beautiful home overlooking LA down below - anyone in the movie or music business would definitely die to live there.
David and Laura are in town to throw a party at the house, but it seems that everybody has some sort of dramatic issue going on. Enter Shane, another writer who's in town working on a screenplay or trying to sell a script. Shane is also gay, and he has a thing for Kenny, but Kenny is apparently married to Harry. I don't think their marriage is working out all that well. There's a bit of an age difference between them - that is for sure. Also, Kenny is young, and quite a handsome guy and he and Lex are best friends. Lex has a thing for Shane, the screenwriter, and has had some issues with pills or something in the not-so-distant past. Now everybody's getting ready for the party, and there are people coming. Not sure why - but these are the only cast members in the film.
... ARE YOU FOLLOWING ALL THESE HUGE THREADS OF DRAMA? THERE ARE, OF COURSE, STILL MORE...
Then, as luck would have it, there is a power outage in the area, and they are left in the dark. Oh, did I mention that David has given MDMA to both Kenny and Shane? Now, Shane has a major crush on Kenny, and I guess it doesn't help that they are going to keep getting as high as a kite. Are you following all these huge threads of drama? There are, of course, still more - as I mentioned earlier, this is Lex and David's family home. Apparently, as David mentions, their mother had to act in many a terrible film to buy this house.
...THE ACTING IS ALSO SIMPLY WONDERFUL, WHICH IS NEEDED TO KEEP THIS MANY THREADS OF DRAMA WORKING.
The next morning we meet the only other cast member...a house inspector. It seems that Lex is selling their family home - but David announces the next morning that he and Laura are getting married and have decided to move into the house. This creates a huge shitstorm between the brothers, and honestly, it's probably the pinnacle of the entire film because not much really happens except a lot of this one wants that one, and that one can't be with this one, and good lord!
The film itself has a major made-for-Netflix look, and I don't mean that in a bad way. Total pro all around. The acting is also simply wonderful, which is needed to keep this many threads of drama working. If you like romantic drama that never really resolves into anything, then this film is certainly for you. I suppose in this respect, "Brotherly Lies" can add "realistic" to its descriptors. Most people can easily relate to things not resolving within their lives. "Brotherly Lies" is a great work, though, and I give it three and a half stars. Brotherly Lies - trailer from Mark Schwab on Vimeo. DROP A COMMENT, RATE THE MOVIE, OR SHARE?
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