Bruiser
A 14-year-old boy turns to a charismatic loner for help after being beaten up, in director Miles Warren’s searing feature debut about fathers, families, and the effects of fighting.
DIRECTOR: Miles Warren
WRITERS: Ben Medina & Miles Warren
PRODUCERS: Aaron Ryder, Jewerl Ross, Scott Lumpkin, Scott Frank, Trevante Rhodes
CAST: Trevante Rhodes, Shamier Anderson, Jalyn Hall, Shinelle Azoroh
PRODUCTION COMPANIES: Ryder Picture Company, Lyrical Media, Toula 67, Silent R Management
DISTRIBUTED BY: Onyx Collective at Hulu
FESTIVALS: Toronto International Film Festival 2022, AFI Fest 2022
REVIEWS
‘Bruiser’ Review: Of Fathers and Fractures
Brandon Yu, The New York Times // February 23, 2023
Warren uses an assured hand in treating the family melodrama with the tenderness of a tone poem. For most of the film, he avoids painting in broad strokes while ratcheting up the conflict between Porter, a tattooed veteran living on a boat, and the bespectacled, seemingly upright Malcolm.
‘Bruiser’ Review: A Teen Is Torn Between Violent Role Models in Strong Debut From Gifted New Voice
Peter Debruge, Variety // December 3, 2022
Insightful and universal in so many ways, Warren’s first feature is a confident if sometimes oblique coming-of-age story from an important new voice, focused on an African American teen torn between two very different role models, one who insists that he stay focused and “take his lumps,” the other ready to teach the boy how to defend himself in a fight.
Brian Tallerico, RogerEbert.com // February 24, 2023
I have a feeling we will look back on “Bruiser” as the affirmation of two major talents in Hall and Warren. Like Darious himself, they’re just getting started.
‘Bruiser’ Review: Miles Warren’s Reflective Meditation on Masculinity Walks Its Own Path
Chase Hutchinson, Collider // February 24, 2023
A debut work that is as beautifully shot as it is thematically resonant, it marks the arrival of an insightful new voice in feature filmmaking.
Noel Murray, The Los Angeles Times // February 24, 2023
What makes “Bruiser” so affecting is that Warren doesn’t keep any of these characters locked into types.
‘Bruiser’: A Searing Coming of Age Story About Black Masculinity
Robert Daniels, The Playlist // February 24, 2023
“Bruiser” is an anxious film filled with unmistakable beauty and obsessed with conceptions of family, love, growth, the past, and the future.