My Brother and I

My Brother and I is a breezy, bisexual love triangle movie. There are arguments or explorations of how this movie does representation, particularly of its sapphic characters. Such a topic would be a great one for me and my website to cover. Too bad I don’t feel strongly enough about this movie to do that.

Sofia is a lesbian Lothario with a string of broken promises and short term relationships behind her. The only girl Sofia ever truly loved was a childhood sweetheart named Michela. Unfortunately, Michela is set to marry Sofia’s brother, Mauro. As their wedding looms imminent, Sofia returns to her hometown to try and win back her great childhood love.

My Brother and I is a comedy film. But it’s not like the dialogue is very funny. Nor are there great visual gags or physical comedy. The comedy in the film comes from its overall premise. It’s a movie about hot people being messy in beautiful locations. This is not the first or last piece of media that will use such a template. But there’s little comedy to be found in My Brother and I. At least it’s nice to look at, what with the beautiful location and hot people and all that.

By the end of the film, Sofia feels like less of a main character than she does at the start. This story of her quest to try and win back a childhood love morphs over the film’s runtime. And some of that works, focusing on the relationship between Sofia and Mauro is alright. But focusing on the relationship between Mauro and Michela? Not on this blog! By the end, Sofia feels more like a roadblock in someone else’s story. Someone else’s heterosexual story, no less. I didn’t want her to necessarily get the girl, but I wanted the sapphic character to remain a little more central to the plot as the film came to its end.

My Brother and I is breezy to the point of intangibility. It’s nice to look at and not offensively bad. But it’s a common type of story with pretty stock characters and story beats. The comedy element isn’t particularly strong and the characters aren’t really likeable, they’re just attractive. I give it points for being a prettier movie than a similar American product. But other than that, My Brother and I is pretty uninspiring.

Overall rating: 4.6/10