Customer Reviews

Brothers of the Head

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Deceiving audiences is risky business when it comes to films. You don't want to anger the watchers by pulling the wool over their eyes in an effort to show how naive they are. But if you do it right, and entertain them without this intent, you can pull magic out of a hat.

BROTHERS OF THE HEAD (an IFC film) is a slice of fiction shot in documentary format. It is done so convincingly (including interviews with the author of the actual novel, Brian Wilson Aldiss) that if someone wasn't aware of the film's machinations, they could easily be fooled. Although the characters and situations are completely fictitious, the era and locations and industry it portrays certainly are not.

The basic premise is that of exploitation for money and fame. Some people have no morals and will do anything to make dollars, including putting conjoined twins up on a music stage in an effort to expose the strange and bizarre; a circus act of music. The young boys' names are Tom and Harry Howe (real life twin brothers Harry and Luke Treadaway). Their mother having died at birth, the boys are swept into isolation by their protective father and their older sister. But reality sinks in as the father realizes the boys must earn a viable living somehow. When an unscrupulous entertainment guru approaches the father with a significant contract offer, the father jumps on it and the boys are sent away and taught to sing and play guitar. The British punk-rock movement of the early 70s is in full swing and the Howe brothers melt into it like heroin on a hot spoon. Their odd Siamese connection is exploited to the max, and audiences (particularly young women) fawn over the unusual pair.

Interviews with lovers, managers, supposed friends, and even the fake documentary maker are driven home with painful results. The boys are seen initially as creatures, but soon they are transformed into stars. Drugs, sex, smoking, alcohol, all become part of their daily existence as they sink further and further into a world they were never prepared for.

The mockumentary utilizes flashbacks to great advantage, showing "the head" (the location where the boys grew up) in increasingly muted and shadowed tones. It's also noteworthy to mention that "the head" has two distinct definitions: the first being their birthplace, and the second being a fetal head growing out of Barry's shoulder. This second head is only touched on, mentioning that it may very well be the downfall of the boys thanks to its cancerous nature.

But the boys aren't brought down by cancer or drugs. They succumb to the world of fame the way many rising stars do.

The ending is touching and not just a bit frightening. We know from the beginning that the boys will die (everyone refers to them in past tense from the get-go), but the manner in which they die is lonely and bitter.

There's a lot to love about this film. The British punk-rock music of the 70s is authentic (if somewhat hard to understand), and the Treadaway brothers pull in Oscar-caliber performances. The fact that some movie watchers will continue pondering the reality of the film incorporates a significant "Wow" factor.

In this realistic pseudo-documentary, two conjoined twins (Luke and Harry) are discovered by a talent artist and become a hugely popular British punk-rock act. It's a dark tale from the start, but the simple story of sharing every moment of your life with another person joined at the waist is mesmerizing. The joy and angst of the pill-popping, heavy drinking twins is shown clearly and plainly. Their moods change and they are conflicted about eachother, but they always remain faithful (with no other choice) to eachother's feelings. The music is hard and tough and the emotional material matches. This is a cult classic about punk-rock and the feelings that one is never alone - and that isn't always a good thing.

"Brothers of the Head" is an ambitious little indie about the meteoric rise and ultimate demise of a British rock group circa 1970's Britain. Shot in a faux documentary style, the film introduces us to two brothers--Tom and Barry Howe (real life twins Harry and Luke Treadaway). The film effectively captures the nature of brotherhood, the spirit of the music scene, the blush of first love, and the corruption of innocence. It is, ultimately, a sad journey--one we've seen many times before, but one worth taking again. Oh and did I forget to mention that Tom and Barry are conjoined twins? Attached at the torso, the brothers start out as a curiosity but grow into real artists. But in addition to the typical destructive forces within the band dynamic, the inability to disconnect from your partner adds a unique and poignant element to this terrific little film.

But as much as I enjoyed "Brothers of the Head," the fake documentary setup is almost the film's undoing. The first third of the movie is too concerned with establishing this conceit. Introducing us to filmmakers, authors, etc. in standard "talking head" interviews, the beginning of "Brothers" doesn't really connect us to the brothers. It's a big mistake, and one that keeps this film from achieving greatness. In addition, many of the initial scenes play as light comedy (including a terrific cameo by director Ken Russell) which don't serve the final film as well as I would have liked.

But once the boys discover music, things start to move into gear. The documentary style becomes less intrusive and the oddly comedic tone is dropped. What we're left with is a fascinating character study. The film provides great insight into the connectedness of the brothers; it's unique to see a serious study of conjoined twins. Usually played for laughs or horror, it is a fascinating psychological dynamic that deserves to be examined. The brothers love and hate one another within the space of one body (essentially)--they want to strike out independently, but they are irrevocably bound both mentally and physically. This, alone, could have made a great film. But "Brothers" also provides a realistic glimpse into the music scene. The songs are believable and compelling; the performance sequences are well shot and energetically performed. It's a seamless combination of drama and music.

Obviously, the Treadaway twins are convincing as the brothers. But, this is no one-trick pony--these guys can act. Both turn in finely nuanced performances. As Barry evolves from a annoying provocateur to someone more and more dependent, nice guy Tom finds romance and then makes increasingly destructive choices. Getting caught up in one's own hype is not a new concept, and the brothers are not immune to the industry's unfavorable influences. The evolution of the characters keeps "Brothers" grounded, believable, and moving.

The ending has an almost haunting quality that stuck with me. Highly recommended; "Brothers of the Head" is unique and effective. Give it a shot--but stay past the beginning. The film might not seem like it's going anywhere of interest initially, but those with patience will be richly rewarded. KGHarris, 09/07.

Length:: 1:16 Mins

Brothers of the Head. Wow! Sad, dark, sweet, and empty.
I'll explain...exploited boys without freedom. They were locked in a room, spied on, beaten, forced to be musicians. This is presented without much emotion in a dark, depressing manner--almost forgotten because it is so lightly touched upon. The memories of the boys hugging, and their emotional dependency, was the only peek into their true world. It's as if we were able to fly overhead as their life progressed. Yet, it was empty. The boys were commodities.

I loved this movie despite the lack of fullness (the audience begs for more information). It was a wild ride into the obscure with a great soundtrack. The music was fantastic to a punk lover. So much so, I had to order the soundtrack.
Though this is fiction, the story is too real. People are exploited everyday.

The twin brothers call themselves The Bang Bang, a 1975 Brit band from The Head whose sound thrashes violently between Bowie, Morrison and The Sex Pistols. Tom's the souful purist and Barry's the tortured rebel, but they spend a lot of time whispering in each other's ears. It's easy for them: They're conjoined at the tummy, with a shared kidney squeezing through the bridge of flesh. A medical separation would probably kill them. Glam rock will do it anyway.

"Brothers of The Head" is one melancholy, absorbing examination of exploitation and creativity. Easy to admire but hard to enjoy, it's presented by directors Keith Fulton and Louis Pepe as a rockumentary looking back at the short, sad life of The Bang Bang, although the camerawork tells us it's fiction cleverly structured as "fact." Pepe and Fulton stirs the music docs of the 60s and 70s with sci-fi writer Brian Aldiss's 1977 short story for an unsettling brew of noise, sex, warped intimacy and tyranny.

And the numerous concert scenes are pitch-perfect recreations of the hypnotic train wrecks that were the earliest punk concerts: It's not music, but a melodic rage of the id, and you will not look away.

Tom (Harry Treadway) and Barry (Luke Treadway) are "sold" to mogul Zak Bedderwick (Howard Attfield) for a one-year band contract and shuttled away to a private estate for development. Neither of them can play an instrument and both are startingly naïve; somebody shoves a bottle of wine in Barry's hand, and he blows on the mouth of it. A manager (Sean Harris) is hired to shape Barry up a bit with a couple good punches to the face, while a guitarist (Brian Dick) pulls the duo through the rabbit hole of rock music - and the lifestyle that accompanies it.

Tom and Barry don't necessarily become musicians so much as they channel their rage into the melodic screaming we charitably call punk music. Their moody nihilism is catchy and one "journalist," Laura Ashworth (Tania Emery) is particularly enthralled with Tom.

Think there'll be a rivalry between Laura and Barry? Isn't this a rockumentary? Laura's presence inspires the movie's funniest line, delivered with sincerity: "If you were sick, and in need, the last person you'd ever call is Laura Ashworth."

As it lays its groundwork, "Brothers" suffers from character overload. Fulton and Pepe needlessly insert shots of an aborted biopic, "Two-Way Romeo," as a stab at humor. Commentary from Bedderwick's lawyer, Aldiss himself, filmmaker Ken Russell and some extra backstory make the first half-hour a tough slog. Audiences need to tough it out, because Tom and Barry's awkward first show turns on the energy, and the movie is a compelling spiral down from there.

As the twins, Luke and Harry Treadway simply are Tom and Barry. We have no preconceptions of the actors to suggest otherwise. Their performances are raw, brave, engrossing and physically demanding - it can't be easy to perform cartwheels while artificially attached to each other. Emery gets special mention as the angelic, borderline creepy Linda. Although Laura seems to be falsely accused of a particularly cruel act, we can sense she's at least thought of it. That blank, adoring stare of hers turns to something else when Barry takes the mic.

Most indelible are the abuses these brothers endure. Some of it's physical, but it's mostly emotional, and after some friendly influence, self-inflicted. Watching "Brothers of the Head" I thought about those 14-year-old girls plucked out of malls to become Paris runway models, after which they're suddenly surrounded by every earthly pleasure and pain they can imagine. It all feels good, it all feels wrong, maybe you make it, maybe you don't, but those girls, like the brothers, eventually want to make it home to a house, a bed, an open field, their own corner of their own room. Sooner or later, the Bang Bang of it all is gone, gone.

I don't think I've felt so mesmerized by how beautifully authentic a movie felt to me when its totally fictional characters are so talented and revealing on every level. The movie Brothers of the Head is about England's conjoined twins Tom Howe (Harry Treadaway) and Barry Howe (Luke Treadaway) who are a strange rock-n-roll act.

The music is by British music producer Clive Langer and is so complete with wit and it is performed with genuine angst by the twins. I want to own the soundtrack immediately because it is an excellent example of pre-punk UK music, yet sounds so original in 2006. Think of the times you saw young Iggy and the Stooges either in a video or heard one of the early demo tracks by The Clash and you have the same essence of musical discovery in the UK as depicted in this film.

The picture quality is perfectly like the way films looked in the early 70s, so you always feel like the technical aspects of the film are completely transparent. The story is compelling and if you enjoyed movies like This is Spinal Tap, Velvet Goldmine and other rock "biopic" films such as Almost Famous and The Commitments, then you'll enjoy this movie as well. Movies such as the schticky Stuck on You don't explore the surrealer and darker side of life as conjoined twins and Brothers of the Head goes very far in the aspect of sex, drugs, rock-n-roll, homo-eroticism, exploitation, and self-destruction.

It often feels like you're watching a mockumentary, however the story weaves its own tale and a mockumentary pokes way more fun while this movie has an edge of romanticizing this freakish world that Barry and Tom must endure every single day that they are conjoined. Sometimes you laugh and then you wonder if it feels a little too sad to laugh, but it is so bizarre that you have to laugh because you're kind of nervous for the characters.

Following their highly regarded documentary "Lost in La Mancha", Keith Fulton and Louis Pepe bring us another documentary of the arts, this time the meteoric rise and fall in 1975 of the seminal punk band Bang Bang, featuring the conjoined twins Tom and Barry Howe.

The story has been told before -- memoirist Brian Aldiss at book length (a book I haven't read) and apparently Ken Russell started a film but dropped it. In addition to recent interviews with surviving personnel and historic interviews and footage, Fulton and Pepe had the advantage of access to a trove of cinema verite footage shot by a film student who lived with and followed around the brothers.

Tom and Barry Howe were born conjoined at the torso, a birth in which their mother died. Their father took them and and their older sister to live on a remote "head" (peninsula) in southeastern England, where they lead an isolated life. In a deal still a bit vague, he effectively "sold" the twentyish brothers to promoter Zak Bedderwick, who set them up in an isolated house with a music teacher, manager and when the time was right a band to accompany them. Their blossoming and self-destruction when they began to perform in public, a span of only a few months of rocketing popularity and degradation, is stunningly documented.

The relation between Tom and Barry, and the development of their individual characters (smoother, introverted Tom, the out of control, true punker, Barry) is fascinating, as is the artificial creation of the band (much like boy groups of a later era) which yet transmogrifies to something genuine and real. The stories of manager Nick Sydney, alternately brutal and caring/concerned, still shaken by the events of that critical summer thirty years ago; and participant-journalist Laura Ashworth, who fell for Tom, are treated adequately. Cameo appearances of Brian Aldiss and Ken Russell are amusing.

You may hate this film, you may love it, but it will certainly affect you. I give it 4* instead of 5 only because I found it confusing in parts, and dragging in others, more the fault of the limited sources than the filmmakers I'm sure.

The music doesn't suck either.

A clever work of rock and roll art that really defies description. Takes the movie-within-a-movie motif to places its never gone before.

Conjoined twins Tom and Barry Howe were raised in an isolated island by their widowed father. Suddenly they are "found" by an enterprising producer and form a rock band. The time was in 1975 and their exciting punk rock music was sensation to the crazed audiences, but then a tragic incident happens to them.

This strange British pseudo-documentary film "Brothers of the Head" is based on the novel by Brian Wilson Aldiss, which follows the fictional rock band the Bang Bang. The film includes not only the dramatic story about the conjoined twins (played by newcomer Harry Treadaway and Luke Treadaway) and the rousing live performances of the band capturing the atmosphere of a punk rock gig; it also has the "interviews" of the people who talk about the days when they lived with the stars.

The script of Tony Grisoni (who co-wrote the screenplay for Terry Gilliam-directed "Tideland") is more ambitious than the original novel's concept in that the film attempts to include also a film-within-film directed by Ken Russell (who appears as himself). Ken Russell briefly talks before the camera about his "unfinished" work, which stars Jonathan Pryce and Jane Horrocks, both appearing as cameo.

Good things about the film are its music and convincing acting from the leads as the conjoined twins. Harry Treadaway and Luke Treadaway (both twins, not conjoined in real life) are fantastic, so are the supporting actors. The music by Clive Langer is also great, reminding me of the Clash songs, and the photography by Anthony Dod Mantle (known for "Dogville" and "28 Days Later") sets the film's brooding tone rightly.

Still for all its electrifying pub gigs and the believable acting from the leads, "Brothers of the Head" lacks emotions. The human drama part about the conjoined twins is underwritten and directors Keith Fulton and Luis Pepe ("Lost in La Mancha") are too intent on making the whole film look like documentary. The film's narrative is often interrupted by subtitles and fake interviews by the cast, leaving us detached from the main characters.

The film has several wonderful moments emotionally involving, but with the fantastic music and acting from the leads, the film could have been better with a simpler narrative though some of you may prefer its eccentric approach.