A tiny miracle of a movie, Ari Gold’s deeply personal Brother Verses Brother is a whimsical musical à la John Carney’s Once, taking place on city streets, in pubs, and around small apartments. Set on a winter day in San Francisco’s North Beach neighborhood, the film discloses upfront that this is “Live Cinema”––improvised and shot in real-time––with a conversation that feels nuanced and natural, identical brothers Ari and Ethan roaming the streets with guitars en route to find their 96-year-old father, beat poet Herbert Gold.
Along the way the brothers grapple with their own relationship, popping into bars to perform and walking onwards, seemingly never missing an opportunity to perform as they look for their father who did not show up for their first performance. They so want to please him that they never miss a chance to perform, even if in an alleyway for themselves.
We learn Ethan, the less-successful of the duo, has grappled with his own demons. Ari feels protective of him as they approach what they know will soon be a major life milestone for both. Along the way they pick up Lara (local musician Lara Louis), a talented singer who awakens something in Ari. In one great sequence, they sneak away from Ethan to watch a performance alone on a balcony before she has to part ways with the brothers.
Shot in one unbroken take by Stefan Ciupek and Frazer Bradshaw that, to my trained eye, seemed genuine (the filmmakers admitted that watching a few times might reveal what tricks they pulled), the film has the quality of a city symphony, finding joy and connection as the brothers ultimately prepare to say goodbye. Starting as a search for their father, the story ultimately comes full-circle with a moving conclusion that makes the creative project feel like a miracle in itself. According to the filmmakers, everyone plays themselves in a live-cinema experiment that works on all levels, including its natural performances from the brothers, their father, and Lara.
What sets Brother Verses Brother apart is that families and mourning are so difficult to pull off––it can seem there’s nothing new to say. While the film occasionally plays familiar notes of pre-mourning and brotherly resentment, it beautifully pulls off its ambitions as the brothers literally climb a hill to find catharsis on a cold night.
Inspired and executive produced by “live cinema” pioneer Francis Ford Coppola, Brother Verses Brother is a compassionate window into the lives of brothers told with honesty and vulnerability. I imagine André Bazin, who detested classical cutting in favor of realism, would have loved the experience. It’s one of the great discoveries from this year’s SXSW.
Brother Verses Brother premiered at SXSW 2025.