Brother to Brother

Unless I missed something in the screening I saw tonight, we had a college age kid get involved with a man who had to be at least 100 years old.

The premise was a young sensitive black and gay student who's going through his own angst happens to meet up with a survivor from the Harlem Renaissance era of the 1920s. Anthony Mackie as the student and Roger Robinson as the artist/survivor both give fine performances and I was deeply moved. A lot of issues that they talked about are as relevant today as during the 1920s, although God knows a whole lot of history has occurred in the intervening years.

After the film though I started thinking. Roger Robinson looks about 75 in the film, he was born in 1940 which would make him sixty five. But 105 would be a more appropriate age if we're to believe he was hanging out with Langston Hughes, Zora Hurston, etc. back in the day. I'm sure some other people had to realize that as well.

In order to make the film more plausible, the writer and director should have placed the modern story circa 1980. That would have been more believable with the players ages.

Still and all, it's a deeply moving film and one to be seen and treasured.

PS. After writing this review I looked up Richard Bruce Nugent and found that he was born in 1906, died in 1987 and that he died in Hoboken, New Jersey.