My Brother's Wedding is a 1983 tragicomic film edited, written, produced, and directed by Charles Burnett.
Set in South Central Los Angeles, the film follows Pierce Mundy (Everett Silas) who finds himself torn between incompatible loyalties after his childhood friend, Soldier (Ronnie Bell), is released from prison.
Mrs. Richardson asks about his brother's wedding and Pierce tells her he doesn't like the fiancée because she's rich.
At the shop, Mr. Bitterfield comes in asking if Pierce's mother, Mrs. Mundy, can mend the rip in his church-going pants.
They walk into the living room, where Wendell was telling his secretary of the wedding count.
Angela comes into the store all dressed up asking Pierce if he would go to prom with her in a couple of years.
Bob states that it is too bad because a person like Soldier should just stay in jail until he rots.
While hanging out in an alley, Soldier asks about his friend Lonneil and Pierce tells him that he was killed during an attempt to rob a liquor store.
The next day Angela comes back and tells Pierce about how she was at Smokey Robinson's last night.
Pierce's mom interrupts, telling him that he has to go take care of Big Daddy and give him a bath.
She says that she didn't raise heathens, but Pierce still states that he does not like Sonia because she has never worked for anything in her life.
When Pierce finds out the next day, he runs to Soldier's house where his parents are grieving and the funeral is set for Saturday.
Hearing this, Pierce abandons the idea of asking them to change the date of the funeral and is now left conflicted.
The movie ends with Pierce sitting at the parking lot of the mortuary with the wedding rings and missing both events.
[1] He spends his days either wasting time with his friends or working a dead end job at his parents' dry cleaners with no thoughts of ever leaving.
Burnett also depicts a typical household of dominant mothers and passive father as seen in Pierce's parents.
[1] Burnett's tragicomedy shows the life of African-American living in the working class communities as funny and loving, though impoverished.
[2] As a statement in the New York Times states "[Burnett is] making art out of materials and inspirations that lie close to hand.
[3] The rough-cut version of the film screened at the festival initially received a mixed review in The New York Times.
[4][5] This scared off distributors who believed it would be unsuccessful and the film was therefore never released to wider public audiences.
"[4] Jonathan Rosenbaum of the Chicago Reader said "If a better film has been made about black ghetto life, I haven't seen it.