My Brother Tom (2001)

What a beautiful movie!

Let's be realistic.

Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

It is not only a funny movie, but it allows a great amount of joy for anyone who watches it.

I completely disagree with the "negative reviews" but totally agree with the current rating. Although this movie was made 17 years' ago, I came across it on a Gay Movies site and I'm glad I did. If it weren't for the outstanding performance of Ben Whishaw(Tom), this movie would not have succeeded as it portrayed the sexual abuses experienced by young persons which continue to exist, sadly, today! The performance of the female lead was commendable, but it is Whishaw's performance that keeps you focused the entire time. Whishaw, with 8 wins, including Best Actor(MBT) from the 2001 Sochi(Russia) International Film Festival and Most Promising Newcomer (MBT) from the 2001 British Independent Film Award, and 15 nominations is worth watching in any movie he is in. He makes other actors better because of his performance. I have seen Whishaw in other movies and I'm glad I found him in this one. It's no wonder his career has taken off as evidenced by the filmography which includes current pre & post production. Children are so vulnerable to sexual predators and parents & children should watch this movie!! Congrats Ben & Jenna!!

The way it is haphazardly edited, the poor quality of the sound and the general disturbed nature of the plot and it's character's, all suggest that Dom Rotheroe has been watching too much of Lars von Trier at al.We begin with 15 minutes of absolutely nothing - walking to and from school, little dialogue, little plot development apart from a hedgehog and the odd jump from a tree. But this laboured pacing sets us up for the almost 'mentioned-in-passing' rape of a young schoolgirl by her teacher. In her own bedroom. With her mother downstairs in the living room. We know from here that what we are watching is pretty serious stuff.With an air of 'Heavenly Creatures', the two kids become almost inseparable, stripping off but doing little more than feeling each other and banging foreheads - we are shown an extremely intense relationship between two seriously messed up children.I thought I recognised the girl who played Jessica from somewhere else, but looking at her bio there is nothing on there that rings a bell. She puts in an impressive performance which she'll probably never match, and one which I'm sure she'd be disappointed has only been witnessed by a small number.On the whole, the film was very engaging and very hard-hitting - but the biggest compliment I can give, is that I'm pretty sure Mr von Trier would have loved it.

I really loved this film! I was watching it from about 12:40 midnight and I was falling asleep, but i had to watch it to the end. It highlights really well the reasons why some people seem crazy and shows how we should look for reasons rather than just scorn or punish people. Raw, but tender passionate, painful, blissful. It had all of these and really captured the mental instability of both characters through brilliant filming.The acting was superb. Ben Whislaw was excellent as Tom, really getting underneath the skin of the character, and Jenna Harrison also gave an excellent debut performance, making the story so real and so passionate. Well done!

this film is real...both touching and engaging. It covers some very taboo story lines, and when the characters lives finally connect, what we are left is one of the most romantic-erotic teen love scenes. The characters are well acted, especially Jessica whose personality evolves over the course of the film.Whilst there is little dialogue in this film, everything is said through Jenna and Ben's eyes - very convincing! ****************** rating: 4 out of 5 ******************