No Love Like Brotherly Love
Brotherly Love (2015), directed by Jamal Hill is an intense urban twist on Romeo and Juliet, filled with action packed life or death situations. In a high violence, divided Philadelphia neighborhood Jackie (Keke Palmer) and her two brothers Sergio (Eric D. Hill Jr), an rising high school basketball star, and June (Cory Hardrict), family money maker and high power gang member, are faced with life-altering situations on the street and in their personal lives. When tension rises from frequent robberies and deaths from both opposing gangs, June struggles to keep the family afloat and Sergio is torn between risking his future in basketball for some extra cash. Conflict between Jackie and her brothers arises when Chris, who claims to have involvement in the gang disputes, starts to take an interest in her. Despite her brothers warnings, Jackie continues seeing Chris, which ultimately leads to a horrible betrayal and an intense plot twist.
Although the story line was well thought out, it was predictable and shares similarities with many other dramas such as director Ernest Dickerson’s, Juice (1992). What made the performance hard to believe was how the male actors appear to be much older than their characters. It was practically watching grown men play high schoolers. The romance between Jackie and Chris was immensely and unnecessarily cliché. From their first kiss to him writing a song for her, it provided many cringe worthy moments.
Jamal Hill gives us exactly the type of movie we expect him too in Brotherly Love. The film shared close similarities with his other works such as Streets (2011), another urban gang-culture movie. What was most appealing to me was the soundtrack. While keeping in the genres of R&B and Hip-Hop, each song fit perfectly with the continuation of the story line. This makes it easier to evoke a certain emotion from the audience, while still keeping a general feel of the atmosphere of the movie.
Whether you’re in for a drama, comedy, or corny romance, Brotherly Love will give you all that with surprises of betrayal, lies, and a crap ton of shootings. Rated: R, Graded: B
