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The rediscovery of Charles Burnett —“the least well-known great American filmmaker,” according to Armond White — continues with a revival of the director’s second feature film, the 1983 follow-up to his stunning 1977 debut Killer of Sheep. For those introduced to Burnett’s work via this past year’s run of Sheep, My Brother’s Wedding provides further evidence of Burnett’s brilliance. Wedding constitutes only a minor step up from Sheep’s low-budget production values (although to see Burnett’s impoverished South Central in color is a revelation), but the important growth is in the area of storytelling. The elliptical, picaresque rhythms of Sheep are here used to build toward an ethical crisis, as Wedding’s protagonist, the disillusioned Pierce (Everett Silas), must decided whether to attend his best friend’s funeral or, grudgingly, the familial obligation of the title. But, as in Sheep, the film’s real force comes from Burnett’s ability to unflinchingly portray the details, faces, and voices of a marginalized community, both in realistic humor and sorrow.
Opens September 14 at IFC Center
Opens September 14 at IFC Center
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