“Art can save your life … Entertainment will never be your salvation … .”
In 2020, as COVID-19 resulted in lockdowns around the world, twin siblings Ari and Ethan Gold began corresponding with their father, Herbert, through poems. The idea was to cultivate connection between them during a period of isolation that may have been tricky for the geriatric author, ultimately creating an opportunity for the three artists of varying stripes (Herbert the acclaimed author, Ari the filmmaker, and Ethan the musician) to explore and share complex feelings that may have otherwise remained hidden from each other. Their poems were eventually compiled into the book Father Verses Sons: A Correspondence in Poems by Herbert Gold and Ari Gold, with Ethan Gold and clearly served as a jumping off point for the latest Ari Gold (The Song of Sway Lake) feature, Brother Verses Brother, a narrative/documentary hybrid that embraces the concept of Live Cinema in its execution, blurring the lines between reality and fiction in such a way that all that remains is truth. Having its world premiere during SXSW 2025 as part of the 24 Beats Per Second section, Gold’s Brother Verses Brother is a slow burn of a film, charmingly self-aware and frequently quixotic, yet never relenting in its quest for connection between the central players and the audience simultaneously, building toward a bittersweet climax that’s as life-affirmingly poignant as it is soul-crushing.
Brothers Ari and Ethan Gold (playing variations on themselves) meet for a gig at a bar in San Francisco, each arriving with different intentions. For older brother Ari, the goal is to get Ethan a regular gig at either this first bar or, if that doesn’t pan out, another nearby place in order to help Ethan on his journey to be a professional musician. For younger brother Ethan, he wants to play a new song, specifically for their father, Herbert (playing himself), who is supposed to come to the gig. As their intentions come into conflict, the Brothers Gold discuss and explore through word and song their relationships to each other, their parents, and the city of San Francisco.
Filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola (The Godfather trilogy; Megalopolis) published a book in 2017 titled Live Cinema and Its Techniques which identifies and examines a belief how filmmakers could, using the tools of modern televised entertainment, create their own live cinema. This is the place from which Ari begins the construction of Brother Verses Brother, mixing the spontaneity and high-wire storytelling of cinéma verité documentary filmmaking with orchestrated narrative filmmaking. According to the official site for the film, Brothers is “Improvised in real time. This is Live Cinema.” With a runtime of 90+ minutes, Ari utilizes a great deal of techniques to maintain momentum (perceived and narratively) whether it’s something as simple as small physical acts to keep characters in frame or in-step or small editing techniques in order to create the illusion of a full-oner. These choices cultivate a cinematic environment that’s like a play, with the city of San Francisco in place of a traditional stage and far less controllable, requiring fluidity and flexibility from the cast and crew as they shoot. Knowing that the film is, in part, inspired by the poetic works the brothers created with their father and that the film itself features everyone playing a variation of themselves, one can’t help (as an audience member) to bounce between remembering that these are real people talking about real things but in a heightened way that makes the dialogue appear fictious. We know that what they’re saying isn’t necessarily accurate, but it’s no less authentic in the telling and performance of it; thereby creating an atmosphere of tension as we observe (like a documentary) these two brothers process their respective issues through this semi-musical journey of their souls.
L-R: Ari Gold and Ethan Gold in BROTHER VERSES BROTHER. Photo Credit: Stefan Ciupek. Photo courtesy of Grack Films/SXSW.
There are 24 songs within Brothers. They’re written primarily by Ethan (the rest by Ari and other cast members) and a few of them are from Ethan’s prior catalogue of music, like “Pretty Girls” and “It’s Ok, Sid,” and, yes, the soundtrack is going to come available through Electrik Gold. These songs frequently serve as the means by which Ari or Ethan shares their inner thoughts, giving weight to their respective arcs whether it’s Ethan’s perception of self-worth as an artist and determination to be metaphorically seen by their father before his passing or Ari’s perception of self-worth as a sibling and existing with the belief that doing something, even poorly, is better than nothing (much to the frustration of Ethan). These songs either tell us directly about their internal sense (mostly with Ethan) or give Ari an opportunity to respond (vocally or physically) to other cast members or to Ethan directly. Simply put, their art is what they pursue because they lack the means to convey what they need and want without it. Their art is their voice and it saves them where relationships, even of the twin sibling variety, are a struggle. For instance, Ethan may be the more demure of the two, his singing voice hard to hear over the din of a bar, but in the soft timber is a shout for recognition, to be seen, to be heard, to be understood. Even if the songs don’t resonate with you like Ethan’s ode to his uncle (“It’s Ok, Sid”), there’s bound to be another one that does, such as the concluding number “Brothers Keep Goin’ Anyway,” which, in its presentation within the moment, just feels like a warm embrace. It was in this moment, dear reader, that I fell apart in the watch.
Brother Verses Brother is about a lot of things. It’s about two brothers trying to do right by each other while trying to stand on their own despite being bound together by blood and womb. It’s about two sons trying to live up to and carry on the legacy of their parents, one already gone and one who passed after the making of the film. It’s about the ways in which art inspires us to live and survive our lives. With all of this swirling around, I couldn’t help but think of my own young children, my wife, and our relationships to each other. I couldn’t help but think of my own aging, divorced parents and the ways in which their needs are changing. I couldn’t help but think of the future and whether or not my children would respond the same way as my siblings and I try to with our parents. All of this swirling inside me as Ari and Ethan argue and make up a million times in 90 minutes, each barb and loving word equally coming from a place of sincere affection as they struggle to be what they think the other wants, all while waiting for their father. It doesn’t matter how old we get, Brothers suggest, we all still long for the approval of our parents. Thus, the final song did break me as it hit me that I may never get the answer that I seek in the same way these two do, but my children will know without question. Bittersweet to be sure, but their art was never going to be my salvation, only the reminder that my children will be safe.
Art done well is like looking into a mirror mixed with a Rorschach test in the sense that what audiences see reflected back to them is based on what they bring to it. At first, Brother Verses Brother appears as this quirky pseudo-documentary with its false oner cinematic approach, the seams quite visible (shadows in frame of the team; general public waving at the cast and crew) giving the experience a wholesome charm in the sense that it acknowledges the risk being taken of embracing one’s art so fully. Noticing the seams enables the audience to be reminded that what we’re seeing is as much a facsimile of the truth as it is the truth itself given that all the people on screen are playing some version of themselves. But what it also does is slowly build a foundation wherein the truth and fiction no longer matter when it comes to the ideas that the film explores of family, responsibility, and the deep human desire for love and connection (familial or amorous). In this way, Brothers Verses Brothers is itself a poem whose zenith brings forth incredible joy and terrible pain, the longing that each brother feels coming to the surface, enveloping the audience in their final song and all that it represents. What it means to the audience may be very different than what it means for the Brothers Gold, but it is, nonetheless, poignant and powerful as it speaks of the briefness of human life and the importance of the connections made along the way. For this reviewer, it got me thinking about my relationship to my own parents and whether I’m paving the same roads for my children to walk as I did or new smoother ones. It got me thinking about my relationship with my wife and how important she is as both a person and connective tissue within our familial unit. It got me thinking about the importance of making sure that each are heard and that I listen when they say they need my attention. It got me thinking about the competition parents accidentally create within their children and the hope that mine realize that it’s of their own creation. It got me thinking just how lucky we are for the brief period we are together. The entertainment within Brother Verses Brother will not save me, but the art created by the Brothers Gold just might inspire its audience to try to save each other.
Update: As of Sunday, March 9th, 2025, Francis Ford Coppola has joined Brother Verses Brother as an Executive Producer on the project..
Screening during SXSW 2025.
For more information, head either to the official Brother Verses Brother SXSW webpage or film website.
Final Score: 4 out of 5.
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Categories: Films To Watch, In Theaters, Recommendation, Reviews
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