My Brother the Devil Film Magazine Review Analysis

Unlike the Fish Tank and Another Year synopsis, this film review features a warning to its reading informing them that a plot twist is highlighted upon in the review. The reviewers begins by explaining how the introductory shot is very unoriginal, emphasising how viewers would have seen the scene before in other films such as Top Boy and Bullet Boy. The reviewer then has a slight dig at the director/writer of the production to only then thank her for breaking away from using common representation of the British working class. The reviewer congratulates on their poetic portrayal of the "badlands" (where the film is set) which is actually Hackney. Since the film is begins with a drug deal the tension is already pretty high however what makes the film so great is that the director sends the tension off the scale when a character finds out that their bigger brother is gay. Speed and setting are mentioned together since there can be such a contrast between scenes. When the protagonists are fleeing from a crime scene the footage focuses on the running and thinking of each character. A much slower approach is taken when the protagonists are just hanging out on a small strip of green between blocks of flats. The reviewer compliments and mentions the key theme of sexuality throughout his review however he does highlight the faults too, one of which being that it feels as if the character has been placed in the film rather than being part of it. Second to last the reviewer mentions that the film is "a real panache" with its excellent depiction of violence where scenes slow to add effect and even stop to show characters thoughts.  The conclusion of the reviewer states that the film is a violent, full of narcissism, hall of mirrors production that us accompanied by a certain humour that is only a chortle away from a gunfight. The film is summed up as "giving its characters the benefit of a soul even tough they are dammed nasty with it".