Brothers Of The Head Review

"Brothers Of The Head" reviews

Movie

Brothers Of The Head

Author

anonymous

Date reviewed

2006-09-28 15:00:26

Provider

Review

There's only one thing separating Brothers Of The Head from the great documentaries of the past few years: it is not a documentary but a mockumentary which takes as its subject matter Tom and Barry Howe (Harry and Luke Treadaway), conjoined twins whose band Bang Bang are the toast of the British mid-70s proto-punk scene.

The twins along with their sister Robbie (Elizabeth Rider) are taken by their father to live in a tumbledown cottage near a ruined castle when their mother dies in childbirth. At 18, he sells them to devious music promoter and former child star Zak Bedderwick (Howard Attfield), who grooms them into a musical novelty act in tandem with his spiteful sidekick Nick Sidney (Sean Harris) and the rather more laid-back Paul Day (Bryan Dick), who teaches them to play. Incredibly, the twins prove to be hugely talented and irresistibly charismatic, earning them a massive following on the back of their sex, drugs and fisticuffs antics.

Directed by Keith Fulton and Louis Pepe - whose previous outing, Lost In La Mancha, was a documentary that felt fictitious – Brothers Of The Head is told via interviews with the people who knew Tom and Barry Howe best. These include Ken Russell, who talks about his fictitious biopic, Two-Way Romeo; Eddie Pasqua (Tom Bower), a documentary maker and supposed protege of DA Pennebaker; and Laura Ashworth (who's played by Diana Kent in the present and Tania Emory in the '70s), a young journalist who approaches the pair with a view to writing about the exploitation of the physically disabled and ends up falling in love with Tom.

With songs written and produced by influential 70s producer Clive Langer, Brothers Of The Head not only brings the era's pre-punk scene to life but does so via a fictitious band. In a word, astonishing.