The Brooklyn Brothers Beat the Best defies expectations

The world has changed a lot over the past five years.  International economic woes can be felt everywhere and it’s easy to see how the landscape of our future has been distorted.  With less investment and fewer companies willing to take a chance on unproven commodities, big dreams now seem even more unlikely.  How, then, does a society respond to such an outlook?  One way is to alter its perspective.  Ryan O’Nan’s directorial debut The Brooklyn Brothers Beat the Best illustrates just such a concept taking hold.  On the surface, it’s an enjoyable indie road trip flick, but the moral of the story is reflective of the road western society is currently on.

In centring the film on a character attempting to break into the music industry, O’Nan has obviously played to his own strengths.  On top of writing the story, O’Nan also wrote many of the songs he performs as Alex in The Brooklyn Brothers Beat the Best.  However, the music business is a perfect example of the toll economic struggles (and, of course, the internet) have taken on once thriving, vital industries.  With fewer record labels, a shrinking market for albums and music retailers, the career that Alex dreams of has never been more of a long shot.  Saddled with a job he hates and recently dumped by the woman he loves, Alex doesn’t have a lot going for him.  Yet, he’s not cut of the stereotypical slacker cloth.  He clearly has both talent and ambition, but said ambition isn’t to just slog through a white-collar existence.  Sure, Alex may perform for mentally disabled young adults in a pink moose outfit and his shotgun-collaboration with Jim (Michael Weston via Charlie Day) is fairly far-fetched, but the offbeat nuisances of The Brooklyn Brothers Beat the Best sit well alongside a message that says this- right here, right now- is it.