Brothers
UK 1999
Reviewed by Jamie Graham
Synopsis
Our synopses give away the plot in full, including surprise twists.
Heathrow airport, the present. Six young friends - Matt, Chris, Ben, Julian, Joseph and Victor - convene for a week's holiday on the Greek island of Paros. There, they meet another friend, Alex, and make for the beach. At night they go out clubbing and try unsuccessfully to chat up women.
They spend the second day recovering but go out clubbing again that night: Julian and Alex pick up two women; Ben dances intimately with a transvestite. The next two days are spent relaxing on the beach; on the fifth day, the friends attend a beach party where Victor is rejected as too old by a woman he's trying to chat up. Matt, meanwhile, meets Anna, an Italian inhabitant of Paros who's recently broken up with her boyfriend. The next day they consummate their romance. Elsewhere, Chris is arrested for attempting to hit a woman. On the last day of the holiday, Joseph arranges Chris' bail; Chris joins the lads as they head for their ferry home. Alex stays with Anna.
Review
Just as last year's Go and Human Traffic saw cinema finally catch up with rave culture, Brothers is a belated attempt by film-makers to come to terms with another longstanding youth phenomenon, the 18-30 package holiday. Featuring the hedonistic activities of seven young men on holiday on the Greek island of Paros, debut director Martin Dunkerton's film is less a coherent narrative than a kinked chain of loosely related vignettes. This unfocused, episodic structure might be a clever attempt to reflect the hazy, drunken outlook of Brothers' vacationing protagonists. But Dunkerton's elliptical, diary-like approach also brings to mind such recent television documentaries as Greece Uncovered and Ibiza Uncovered, late-night programmes that seem to delight in the boorish behaviour of their real-life subjects. At first, the comparison seems justified. No sooner have the lads arrived in Paros than they head for the beach to gawk at topless women. Then it's back to their rooms as they prepare for a blurry night of drinking and pumping dance music, both staples of the current fly-on-the-chalet-wall documentary.
Dunkerton does at least grant his lead characters distinct, albeit lightly sketched personalities (something that can't be said of the largely anonymous subjects of Greece Uncovered and the like). One of the film's storylines sees Matt embark on a tender romance with an Italian girl; Ben meanwhile has an unexpected gay fling; and the group are given to quoting poetry and philosophy, although the leap from such crass lines "Did I ever tell you I'm the proud father of seven abortions?" to those which flaunt a casual knowledge of Nietzsche is improbable, to say the least.
Dunkerton also makes a spirited, albeit unsuccessful, attempt to contextualise the behaviour of his laddish heroes. One character asks how he can be held responsible for his misdemeanours when society hands him the Bible wrapped in a copy of the Sun. As if to underscore the idea that these young men are lost souls, Dunkerton peppers his movie with religious motifs - a woman clutching a crucifix rounds on a predatory male , while a beach party concludes with the surreal sight of a transvestite adorned in angel wings drifting through the crowd.
But the themes of spiritual bankruptcy and male dislocation ring resoundingly hollow in a film that so revels in its characters' antics. The scenes of clubbing and drinking thrum with a gleeful energy, buoyed by a mighty dance compilation soundtrack. The soul-searching interludes, meanwhile, reek of nothing more than self-pity. After all, it's hard to extend sympathy towards characters who happily sniff each others' fingers as proof of sexual conquest.
Credits
- Director
- Martin Dunkerton
- Producers
- Martin Dunkerton
- Joanna Garvin
- Screenplay
- Martin Dunkerton
- Nick Valentine
- Director of Photography
- Richard Terry
- Editor
- John Grover
- Production Designer
- Conrad Butlin
- Music
- Julian Stewart Lindsey
- ©Brothers Films Ltd.
- Production Company
- A Brothers Films production
- Executive Producer
- Julian Dunkerton
- Associate Producers
- Tania Sayner
- Simon Barton
- Terry Painter
- Mike Dey
- Lella Dey
- Mark Bloom
- Ronald Bill
- Hans-Peter Wurmli Jons
- David Garvin
- John Pickard
- David Fairthorn
- Mo Fairthorn
- Justin Brett
- Adam Oates
- Joe Dimond-Brown
- Katherine Stephens
- Lynda Hardy
- Tim Hardy
- Diane Savory
- Ivor Dunkerton
- Susie Dunkerton
- Mark Myatt
- Paddy Myatt
- Peter Carney
- Sue Carney
- Richard Draper
- Christine Marlow
- Mervyn Daniel
- Alex Hadden
- Daniel Greaves
- Andy Wilson
- H.R. John
- John Grover
- Berny Wickramasinghe
- Lianne Lemmon
- Layna Clark
- Paul Kearney
- Annie Kearney
- David Kearney
- Sheila Kearney
- Fred Little
- Gill Little
- Jason Little
- John Kingston
- Gary Kingston
- Steve Harcup
- Mrs E.B. Lamplough
- Susie Lamplough
- Simon Greaves
- James Richards
- Jason Archer
- Nathan Bliss
- Simon Kirby
- Nikki Steele
- Chris Charnock
- Ralph Saint-Rose
- Fin Wild
- Tom Low
- Road & Go Vicinity
- Phil Dimond-Brown
- Graham Carr
- Simon Price
- Production Executive
- Ed Harper
- UK Production
- Co-ordinator
- Yasmin Keshmiri
- Production Manager
- Victoria King-Voreadis
- Location Consultant
- Dylan Hawkins
- Creative Consultant
- Ralph Saint-Rose
- Assistant Directors
- John Pickard
- Yasmin Keshmiri
- Kris Landin
- UK:
- Suzanna Shaw
- John Pickard
- Script Supervisor
- Alice Peterson
- Casting
- Director:
- Nick Valentine
- Additional:
- Julie Dunne
- Screenplay Additional Material
- Julian Dunkerton
- Michael Bradley
- Ralph Saint-Rose
- Steve Pearmaine
- Monica Kaplan
- Camera Operator
- Richard Terry
- UK Steadicam Operator
- John Taylor
- Digital Effects/Opticals
- Craig Chandler
- Make-up/Hair Design/Wardrobe Mistress
- Jane Kemlo
- Titles Designer
- Janice Mordue
- Titles Opticals
- General Screen Enterprises
- Featured Musicians
- Bouzouki:
- Zacharia Hajishacalli
- Violin:
- Roberto Manes
- Guitars:
- Sagat Guirey
- Ralph Saint-Rose
- Vocalist:
- Ida Olsson
- Soundtrack
- "Song 2" - Blur; "Whatever Turns U On", "It Was You" - Freeloader; "Gangster Trippin'" - Fatboy Slim, features a sample of "Beatbox Wash" - The Dust Junkys, & a sample of "Endtropy" - DJ Shadow; "Trippin on Sunshine" - Pizzaman; "The Rockafeller Skank" - Fatboy Slim, contains a sample of "Sliced Tomatoes" - Dust Brothers, & a sample of "Beat Girl" - The John Barry Seven; "Da Ya Think I'm Sexy" - N-Trance; "Tubthumping" - Chumbawamba; "Sugarcane" - Studio 2; "Redemption" - Slowbound; "Peace & Joy" - Soundstation; "French Kiss" - Lil' Louis; "On a Good Day" - The Harbingers; "Sleepyhead" - Moke; "Dreaming (Percussion mix)" - Ruff Driverz presents Arrola; "Reach Out and Touch Me" - Gomera; "Sacred" - Medecine Drum featuring Neera; "You Should Be..." - Blockster; "Disco Cop (Original Climax edit)" - Blue Adonis, contains elements from "ich bin wie du" - Marianne Rosenberg; "Encore une fois (Future Breeze)" - Sash!; "Mikon U.S." - Sons of Shaft
- Sound
- Alan O'Duffy
- Re-recording Mixer
- Nic Le Messurier
- Sound Editor
- Simon Price
- Dialogue Editor
- Hugo Middleton
- ADR/Foley Mixer
- Sandy Buchanan
- Foley
- Artists:
- Stan Fiferman
- Andie Derrick
- Cast
- Justin Brett
- Matt 'Mystic Matey' Davidson
- Daren Jacobs
- Chris 'Beercan' Sullivan
- Daniel Fredenburgh
- Julian 'The King' Davidson
- Rebecca Cardinale
- Anna Stefanos
- Nick Valentine
- Alex 'Driftwood' Webb
- Fin Wild
- Victor 'Tarzan' Newson
- Leigh Tapper
- Joseph 'Fats Joey' Richards
- Stephen Maggio
- Ben 'Wildman' Urqhuart
- Crystal Shepherd Cross
- Juliette
- Mike Barret
- Ben's brother
- Jenifer Barnes
- Ben's mother
- Steven Booth
- Ben's father
- Evie the Dog
- Evie the dog
- Suzanna Shaw
- Victor's wife
- Nicola Baker
- Victor's child
- David Garvin
- London cab driver
- Ida Olsson
- Christina Anderson
- Olivia Quinn
- Spider Girl
- Maria Mourlas
- Maria
- Joanna Garvin
- girl on lilo
- Hillevi Richter
- Tovi
- Sylvia Olsson
- Ida
- Alma Fridell
- Mimi
- Anna van der Vliet
- Alma
- Louise Vitell
- Ulrika
- Emmanora Lastbom
- Ursula
- Ellie Kosh
- Jessica
- Ralph Saint-Rose
- Serge
- Jane Kemlo
- Adrenaline
- Stewart Thompson
- Yorgis
- Paraskevi Tsandanis
- Greek grandmother
- Yannis Spiridogiannakis
- Anna's boss
- Julian Dunkerton
- Scandi Melon-Head
- Themis Yorgaros
- Yanis
- Alice Peterson
- Sun Sun
- Alice Tempervey
- Angelica
- Suzy Kewer
- Helga
- Sansan Fibich-Kafri
- girl in red dress
- Louise Barth
- Claudia
- Alexandros
- Greek boy
- Lucy Kirke
- Delphini beach waitress
- Dimitris Yorgaros
- deputy chief of police
- Angela El-Zeand
- daughter of chief of police
- Elena Lyberi
- Greek friend
- Manolis Kondogeorgis
- Nikos Papadakis
- Jiannis Voreadis
- Navsika Makraki
- Greek musicians
- Martin Dunkerton
- naked film director
- Certificate
- 18
- Distributor
- Paradise Films Limited
- 8,805 feet
- 97 minutes 50 seconds
- Dolby Digital
- In Colour
- Prints by
- Technicolor