
My Brother’s Wedding. 1983/2007. USA. Written and directed by Charles Burnett. With Everett Silas, Monte Easter, Jessie Holms, Dennis Kemper, Ronnie Bell, Sally Easter, Gaye Shannon-Burnett, Sy Richardson, Angela Burnett. DCP. 81 min.
Unreleased following it’s 1984 New Directors/New Films premiere, Charles Burnett’s deeply humanist follow up to Killer of Sheep follows an uninspired man, Pierce Mundy (Everett Silas), navigating friendship and family obligation in Los Angeles. At 30, Pierce is too old to be as aimless as he is, and he knows it. His best friend’s release from prison and his brother’s impending wedding to an upper-middle-class woman he despises bring his discontents to a head. Financed in part by German television and eventually leading Burnett into bankruptcy, My Brother’s Wedding, recut in 2007 to his original vision and then restored by the Pacific Film Archive, cemented Burnett’s power and immense skill as a director.