Harry Treadaway …. Tom Howe
Luke Treadaway …. Barry Howe
Bryan Dick …. Paul Day in 1970’s
Sean Harris …. Nick Sidney
Jonathan Pryce …. Henry Couling
John Simm …. Boatman
Ken Russell …. Himself
Brian Aldiss …. James Greene
Elizabeth Rider …. Roberta Howe
Luke Wagner …. Young Zak
Anna Nygh …. Zak’s Mum/Rita Bedderwick
Howard Attfield …. Zak Bedderwick
Edward Hogg …. Chris Dervish (as Ed Hogg)
Nicholas Millard …. Tubs
Ken Bones …. Henry Couling
Tagline: From some people… Rock & Roll was always a freak show.
Brothers of the Head is a mockumentary about conjoined twins Barry and Tom Howe who become rockstars in the 1970s. I’ll give you a minute to digest that…………….
Are you okay with that?
Okay, good.
So, the brothers are conjoined around the midsection/chest area. They are sent? to a castle in England to learn about music and become rock stars. Tom, the more docile twin, is taught to play the guitar, while Barry, the more abrasive, explosive of the two is the lead singer. Their group is called The Bang Bang and they travel around, becoming a huge punk sensation.
This is a movie within in a movie. The actual movie is a retrospective on a documentary done about the Howe brothers in the 70s. Present day characters often talk about what it was like with the Howe brothers 30 years prior, while most of the time, you are seeing the “documentary” that was made. The brothers are followed, relentlessly, to the point of them being filmed while attempting to bathe. They are watched while rehearsing, sleeping, playing, fighting, and when they are trying to be alone, from the eyes of the world. Over the course of the film, you really begin to pity them, as they are praised more for their sideshow freakishness then for their value as human beings.
While at the castle, Laura Ashworth enters the scene. She comes to observe the men, as she is there to gather information that is she writing in an academic journal about the exploitation of the disabled. Barry is very rude to her, and this only escalates after she and Tom fall in love. Barry is forced to be privy to their sexual acts.
The relationship begins to get very intense, just as their band begins to get very popular. In conjunction with the pressure of the success of the band and the relationship with Laura, the twins, especially Barry, begin to drink heavily, use drugs heavily, and their relationship turns more distant and violent.
A letter to a doctor regarding the possible separation of the twins ends Tom’s relationship with Laura and the movie spirals downward from there. Barry is injured at one of the gigs and they are both forced to go home so that they can be taken care of. The last fifteen minutes of the movie are so grim. I normally don’t divulge endings, but the Howe brothers die. That is all I will say. There are more details in the film, so I will leave it at that. This is really not a secret, as the tone of the entire film is that they are dead.
The concept of this movie, conjoined twin rock stars, great idea. Very fresh. Who in the hell would have thought of such a thing. The film work is very experimental and the movie is very artsy at times, which is also fresh.
The execution of this movie could have been so much better. The Howe brothers did an excellent job of acting. Very believable. Here is my main objection: I never really knew anything about the Howe brothers. They are observed from far far away. I believe that was the point of the film. However, in order to truly empathize with a character, it does help if the audience is allowed to delve deeper into who the observed is as a person. Everything is very surface in this movie.
The movie is also slow in parts and doesn’t sustain the focus on anything long enough for you to truly absorb it.
I recommend a watch as an exercise in experimentation, but I will you know now, you will probably walk away dissatisfied.
Ingenuity: A-
Execution: D
Overall: C
