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Reviews
Brotherly Love (2015)
There MUST be a SEQUEL in the making somewhere!!
Caution: This review contain spoilers!!!
Brotherly Love depicts a strong portrayal of an urban Black family struggling despite adversaries. I believe that Jamal Hill did an awesome job with real life struggles in the film. Here are some analysis that indicates a sequel is needed for more professional critics to take the movie more seriously.
*In the opening scene, it is important to understand how Jamal Hill left the perpetrator of the killing of Omar (Chris' cousin) and other kids from the kill open to be ANYONE. Chris was in the bathroom and may have thought he saw June... HE was the only one who saw June. Here, I felt the plot should have been deepened a bit because there is no indication in the movie that June did this. He may have been upset about the card game, but not enough to kill. Plus, at the beginning of the movie, June asked his friends if they had any updates about the homicide from the previous night... unaware.
*Keke's (Jackie's) friend Trina seems to encourage her relationship with Chris. In the opening scene, she mentions his name in the bathroom AND then encourages Jackie to call him. Why would she do this knowing that there were conflicts with kids from the Bottom? Was Jackie's friend Trina in on this?-to set her and Chris up. It may have been a gesture on her part-being a friend or simply the way the plot was built.
*Chris made SURE Jackie was nowhere near all the drama and violence that occurred. Initially, he asked her if she was allowed to keep company and she told him that was not a good idea. (Hindsight-My thought is that Chris had plans to ambush the entire family, but his plans were thwarted) Every time Jackie was with him, there was violence... the break in and shooting at the Taylor's house and violence at the party with Cram.
*Sergio's friend may have been set up to break into the House on the Hill. When Sergio went upstairs and opened the drawer, he closed it quickly after it revealed that it was the house of Chris Collins as Jackie's necklace and remnants of June's money taken during the robbery was in the drawer. NOTE: Jackie was wearing the necklace at the end of the movie. How did she get the necklace back if this was the night that everything went down?
*Also, Chris gave June the information to get back at the goons who robbed him so that they would not eventually talk and expose him. He was covering his tracks. He didn't want anything to lead back to him and I think at this point he was considering not going through with his plan. After Jackie told him that June is a straight up gangster and should not be crossed, Chris knew that he had to go through with his plan or June would kill him if he found out that he was at the center of all the drama. CHRIS WAS A STRAIGHT UP GANGSTA.
*Chris bodied people throughout the movie. He killed June's friend, Bunch AND arranged the home invasion at the Taylors the night he took Jackie to the studio. Remember the money that Sergio saw in the drawer of the house they broke into? (back to that again)
*At the end of the movie, it was revealed that Jackie had a child, but viewers assumed that she was not forwarding her life. She could be attending music school or engaged in something else to further herself.
Any thoughts? These are just mine. I do believe that there is a need for a sequel to this movie. Jamal Hill has definitely stepped up his game EVEN MORE over the last three years. He will BLOW theatres out of the water with a sequel.