Coming to NYC’s Stranger Than Fiction series tomorrow night, Tuesday, February 11: BROTHERS HYPNOTIC
Reuben Atlas’ exploration of musical legacy among a band of brothers had its world premiere at SXSW last year. It went on to screen at Hot Docs, Montclair, Los Angeles, Film Society’s Sound + Vision, Urbanworld, Antenna, Indie Memphis, Hawaii, Leeds, Sound Unseen, RIDM, Pan African, and the upcoming Big Sky and Noise Pop.
Atlas offers an intimate profile of the Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, consisting of the eight sons of Phil Cohran, a Chicago-based jazz trumpeter who is known for playing with Sun Ra and Earth, Wind and Fire, among others. Cohran and the boys’ mothers introduced them to music at an early age, grooming them to be positive, inspirational young African American role models. After breaking with their father’s leadership, they set their own course, resisting commercialization to make music their own way. Atlas documents their transformation from street performers to independent, internationally touring artists, with occasional high-profile gigs serving as a backing band to the likes of Prince. Simultaneously showing the universal struggles facing independent musicians as well as the specific challenges of escaping their father’s – and his generation’s – shadow, the film is engaging, but does falter a bit in adequately individuating its various subjects’ personalities. Still, Atlas takes on more than the typical music doc often does, offering intriguing musical and political history in Cohran’s story, while maintaining a focus on the present-day concerns of the younger musicians’ careers.
what (not) to doc 