Gloomy story of conjoined twins is painful to watch
By Phil Villarreal
pvillarreal@azstarnet.com
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 09.14.2006
"Behind the Music" crashes into "Stuck on You" with disastrous results in "Brothers of the Head," a fake documentary about conjoined twin British punk rockers in the 1970s.
Adapted from the Brian Wilson Aldiss novel, the film steers clear of the lighthearted Christopher Guest mockumentary treatment in favor of gloomy social commentary.
Directors Keith Fulton and Louis Pepe teamed for "Lost in La Mancha" (2002), a fascinating documentary about Terry Gilliam's failed attempt to shoot a Don Quixote film. They try to use the same technique with this film, but while the ratty, patched-together feel aids the illusion of realism, you don't actually care about the characters. Thus, there's no compelling reason to sit through psychoanalysis from a parade of talking heads of the rockers' doctors, biographers, lovers and friends.
The effect is the same as reading a Jayson Blair-penned article in The New York Times.
Tom and Barry Howe, played by twins Harry and Luke Treadaway, respectively, are a sob story incapable of drawing crocodile tears. The characters were born joined at the hip and sold by an uncaring father to an abusive huckster who forms them into a musical group. The boys struggle with their lack of identity as they start playing shows and signing record deals. The directors toss in drugs, jealousy and depression as kindling that never catches a spark.
Fulton and Pepe never quite get a grip on whether the Howes were genuine talents. What becomes painfully apparent as the drudgery rolls on is that the only freak show here is the movie itself.
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