"Brothers of the Head": Up close, personal, riveting
Most faked documentaries aim for laughs. "Brothers of the Head" asks to be taken seriously. It deserves to be.
Set mostly in the mid-1970s, this British film uses nonfiction techniques to present the fictional rise and fall of Tom and Barry Howe, conjoined twins who briefly become punk-rock stars. When Laura Ashworth, a manipulative journalist, falls for Tom, and Barry inevitably becomes part of their relationship, all sorts of identity problems surface.
Using a "Citizen Kane"-like structure, screenwriter Tony Grisoni presents the Howes' story as a film within a film, called "Two-Way Romeo" and supposedly directed by Ken Russell (who plays himself). The co- directors, Keith Fulton and Louis Pepe ("Lost in La Mancha"), even restage the wrenching scene in "Kane" in which Charles Foster Kane loses his beloved sled. This time it's the twins who are robbed of their childhood.
Harry and Luke Treadaway, identical twins who were 19 when the movie began shooting, are simply astonishing as the Howe brothers. The Treadaways aren't conjoined, but they quickly suggest what it must be like to be literally tied to another person. They spend much of the film communicating primarily with each other, using glances and gestures and kisses to suggest a bond that goes beyond homoeroticism.
Anthony Dod Mantle's fluid camera follows the boys and often seems to be intruding in the private world they've created since birth. As the camera gets closer, following them to the bath or the bedroom, they shy away or reject the prying, and the audience can't help feeling complicit in this invasion of privacy.
Two actresses play Laura. Tania Emery brings out the character's wickedly exploitative nature in the 1970s, while Diana Kent suggests a more melancholy narcissism as Laura recalls her behavior three decades later. Russell delivers a sharp self-parody, while Tom Bower slyly plays an American cinematographer who will follow the boys anywhere.
In the end, there's a stuntlike quality about "Brothers of the Head." The casting could not be better; the music is convincingly of the period; the relationship between the Howes is brilliantly handled; the final shot is truly haunting. But the script, based on a novel by Brian Aldiss, suffers from third-act anemia. It's two-thirds of one of the year's best movies.
John Hartl: johnhartl@yahoo.com
"Brothers of the Head," with Luke and Harry Treadaway. Directed by Keith Fulton and Louis Pepe, from a screenplay by Tony Grisoni. 93 minutes. Rated R for drug use, language and sexuality. Varsity.