Brothers of the Head 2006

John Hartl, Seattle Times: It's two-thirds of one of the year's best movies. Read more

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: Here, at least, played straight, the mockumentary strictures are more like straitjackets. Read more

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Read more

Scott Tobias, AV Club: Fulton and Pepe's refusal to play the material for obvious jokes or ironies dignifies what might have otherwise been a gimmicky project about a band fronted by conjoined twins. Read more

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: Apes the cinematic and musical excesses of its era so eerily that it's worth a look. Read more

Carina Chocano, Los Angeles Times: It's the songs ... that give the movie its emotional ballast, countering the filmmakers' intellectualized approach and meta-narrative style. Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: A glumly serious British mock rock doc: You could forgive the paucity of jokes if Brothers of the Head had anything to say, or if the '70s-verite surface were remotely convincing. Read more

Mario Tarradell, Dallas Morning News: ... the story of British conjoined twins turned underground punk-rock tragic figures can't be ignored, if not for the ingenious way of disguising truth, then for the unsettling presentation of human emotions. Read more

Chuck Wilson, L.A. Weekly: Yes, this is another faux rock documentary, but one so dramatically and visually textured that it reinvents that decidedly worn genre. Read more

David Germain, Associated Press: Pepe, Fulton and screenwriter Tony Grisoni, who had worked on Gilliam's Quixote picture, inject great detail into the Howes' story, yet the siblings feel distant and disconnected, a couple of ciphers you never really get to know. Read more

Gene Seymour, Newsday: The arc of the Howes' careers looks so much like the autopsies of similar 1970s rock bands that you brace yourself for the inevitable tragic end. And yet, even with the details of their demise more implied than stated, it still stings like real life. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: All the artiness on hand can't conceal the familiar raucous sound of the carnival barker outside. Read more

Jack Mathews, New York Daily News: This is a very tender portrayal of young people caught up in a blisteringly fast and cynical world, and though their music is hideous, they are a compelling act. Read more

Ruthe Stein, San Francisco Chronicle: So cleverly constructed that it's easy to be taken in and believe these twins really rocked. Read more

St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Read more

Geoff Pevere, Toronto Star: Undermined by its form: strange as it ought to be, the mockumentary conventions of the movie make everything strangely familiar. Read more

Dave Calhoun, Time Out: The credible feel of this film-within-the-film remains an achievement; it's neither mocking nor parodic and nearly always deadly serious. Read more

Derek Elley, Variety: Read more

Dennis Lim, Village Voice: The golden-hued footage is lovingly faked by ace cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle, and the straight-faced result is as improbably touching as the Farrelly brothers' underrated Stuck on You. Read more

Desson Thomson, Washington Post: A flashy, stylistic show of emptiness, intended to protest emptiness. But that's clear almost from the outset. Read more