I have enjoyed a lot of Ralph's previous work as a director. However I feel like this particular piece fell flat. It lacked a certain focus that caused the narrative to feel disjointed and confusing. The editing was jarring and poorly done. Despite a few appreciable stylistic choices and some decent performances this movie wasn't great. I think Ralph is a very talented filmmaker but this definitely doesn't represent his best work.
9 Reviews
pretty impressive for an amateur film
framptonhollis15 January 2018
Ralph Sepe, in case you didn't know (in which case I actually have no f*cking idea how or why you've ended up here), is a moderately successful YouTube content creator known for his dryly humorous and compulsively watchable and entertaining satirical critiques of movies and TV. I am a huge fan of his content, and had yet to have seen any of his actual, more serious short film work until just a few minutes ago when I watched this strange and kind of confusing short called Brother's Paradise, which seems to have less than impressed a lot of the reviewers here on IMDb. I will admit that it is as far as far can be from perfection, but I will also admit that it kept me engaged and interested throughout its quick, but nonetheless ridiculously tragic running time. I feel like with a bigger budget (this is obviously some kind of student film shot on half a shoe string) Sepe could make a much more genuinely chilling drama, and this intriguingly disjointed narrative proves it. It feels kind of pretentious in parts, the acting is mostly mediocre (although you can tell both actors involved, one of whom is Sepe himself, are beginning to climb the ladder to success in terms of acting capability), and the storyline is, as I've already stated, pretty engaging but ultimately puzzling, which would probably work much more if the length of this film was extended. I think the concept Ralph was working with here could make for a legitimately great, original, and emotional film if he was given the budget he deserved and made it into a fully original feature length production. Too bad quality doesn't judge EVERYTHING in the movie making world, as it is a business, and business is not always about quality. To quote Frances McDormand's character in Fargo, "It's a real shame."
A Little Dissapointing
emojicow12 June 2019
Brothers Paradise is well shot, and well acted by Ralph Sepe. However, the older brother does not act his part well at all. When Ralp is the centerpiece it brings up everything. But with the other actor dragging him down it makes what could've been great, only mediocre.
If this film is paradise, then book me a flight to hell please
Horst_In_Translation4 May 2017
Warning: Spoilers
"Brother's Paradise" is a 2017 short movie (six minutes) that was released by writer and director Ralph Sepe Jr. about a week ago on his Youtube channel. He also plays one of the two characters in here. Oh well.. what can you say about this one. If you read the summary, you basically have the same experience as you do by watching this film. Apparently one guy committed some horrible crimes and his brother in here still decides to support him. With his presence that is. The ending is one character shooting a gun randomly while being instructed by the other. I guess the exact plot (if there even is one) made only sense to Sepe himself as this is a very strange movie. I have seen some of Sepe's other work from earlier in his career and I can't deny that this one we have here does not look as amateurish as some of the earlier stuff. That does not make it a good watch though. Writing and directing are still on a level where I'd say that maybe filmmaking is not the right choice for the one who made it. Direction is sort of okay I guess. But as a whole, the negative easily outweighs the positive. Stay far far away.
"Brother's Paradise" is Ralph Sepe's least valuable work
heyhecticstudios13 May 2017
Warning: Spoilers
"Brother's Paradise" offers little of value to fans of Sepe's previous work, or anyone for that matter. While technically janky in some respects, his previous films (King Candy, The High) were exciting, with engaging stories and near flawless pacing.
His newest short film lacks both the charm and style of storytelling that makes his other work so enjoyable. In fact, it wouldn't even be an exaggeration to say that Brother's Paradise is just a fistful of student film tropes smushed together and compressed into five minutes; the story is told out of order, switching between black-and-white and color to create a distinct dichotomy between what takes place before and after the 'horrible crime' (a school shooting). It even ends with a gunshot and smash cuts to the credits.
The story is quite disjointed; for whatever reason, there is a beginning and end but no in between. As I said, it cuts back and forth between scenes that take place before and after the crime, with quite random spinning footage of trees in the woods spliced in between.
"Brother's Paradise" can be, at most, denoted to pretentious drivel. I was extremely disappointed by it, as I'm a huge fan of Ralph's other films as well as his YouTube videos. It's actually quite curbed my excitement for Lover.
His newest short film lacks both the charm and style of storytelling that makes his other work so enjoyable. In fact, it wouldn't even be an exaggeration to say that Brother's Paradise is just a fistful of student film tropes smushed together and compressed into five minutes; the story is told out of order, switching between black-and-white and color to create a distinct dichotomy between what takes place before and after the 'horrible crime' (a school shooting). It even ends with a gunshot and smash cuts to the credits.
The story is quite disjointed; for whatever reason, there is a beginning and end but no in between. As I said, it cuts back and forth between scenes that take place before and after the crime, with quite random spinning footage of trees in the woods spliced in between.
"Brother's Paradise" can be, at most, denoted to pretentious drivel. I was extremely disappointed by it, as I'm a huge fan of Ralph's other films as well as his YouTube videos. It's actually quite curbed my excitement for Lover.
Average, but disappointingly so
bmorgan-8669921 June 2017
I love Ralph Sepe's work. He shows a knack for low-budget film making, and often surprises me with his work, but unlike King Candy, which I reviewed prior to this, I can't say this was above average. It was just...well, average. I wouldn't call this film Brother's Paradise, but rather, Brother's Slightly Better than Current Position in Life. I would usually use a low budget to defend a film, but considering this film has double the budget of King Candy and still manages to be less engaging than it shows that the low-budget defense isn't valid. I love Sepe's work, and I was hooked to his Youtube channel ever since I started watching it, but I have to be honest. I would rate this 5/10 because it's just average, but the editing and higher budget are enough to make this a 4/10. I hope his Future film Lover and his previous film The High are both better than Brother's Paradise.
It's good but doesn't live up to his other work.
UV-Yuvraj-Singh22 October 2018
This was great, the dialogue and aesthetic really hit home, the performance from the older brother was uncompelling which is now a apparent trend in his films, he fails to find actors who is as good as him which hurts his work.
It was good, but 'The High', 'King Candy' and 'Hereafter' still remain favourites to me.
It was good, but 'The High', 'King Candy' and 'Hereafter' still remain favourites to me.
Best one yet
theguywill25 June 2018
Only problems I had with it is some dialogue that I thought was stupid, otherwise it was great. The editing is great, Ralph showed two different periods of time and is able sew them together seamless, and the black and white was a good choice to transition from different time periods. I liked how silent the whole short film was until Ralph fired the gun, it shows a good contrast in sound. A lot of the criticism come from people who are judging this short film as a film, they bring up things like the "show don't tell" rule with out thinking about the main focus of the short film, you don't need to show the kid getting bullied because the kid's school life isn't the focus; the focus is the relationship between the two brothers. So keep this stuff up Ralph I like were you are going!
Definitely Entertaining
centurycomics27 December 2018
Warning: Spoilers
"Brother's Paradise" is nothing special on paper. The story is about two brothers; one of whom is being bullied. The other encourages him to try and beat them up in order to show them that he isn't "soft". Of course, the brother takes it differently and murders several people and they both begin to live a life of crime. What makes this film so special is the way this story is told. At a first glance the storyline is convoluted and out of order. It is constantly hopping back and forth from present and past which may confuse any viewer. But, when the story is told this way, it unravels slowly until you fully understand what happened. If it were told any other way it would be boring. A problem I found with this film was the stylized black and white. It was cool to look at, but not necessary. Another problem was the obvious audio dubbing in certain scenes. The editing was also a little weird. All in all, I enjoyed it and found it entertaining but I'm not sure I would recommend it because it may confuse a couple of people.
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