MY BROTHER TOM



UK, 2001, 109 min, color

When Tom comes crashing into Jessica's life from the boughs of a burning tree, she is both alarmed and intrigued by his dark nature. The local forest is Tom's sanctuary from his difficult home life and it becomes the world where he and Jessica find a love for each other which is uncompromising.

"Rotheroe wanted to approach the intensity and intimacy of the relationship between Tom and Jessica as closely as he could in the style of his film: raw, emotional and confrontational. It is a film, he considers, that could only be filmed in close-ups: the camera has to become part of the action, close to the skin of the characters. That is why he chose the flexibility of a digital handcamera (held by Robby Muller, the Dutch veteran who previously worked with Wim Wenders, Lars von Trier amd Jim Jarmusch), making it possible to improvise and to shoot entire scenes, giving the actors the maximum freedom of expression."