The Brothers Kendrick
Genre: Drama/Music
Director: David Mackenzie
Writer: Joshua Collins
Cast: Tom Holland, Tom Glynn-Carney, Rhys Ifans, Sophie Turner, Aneurin Barnard, Toby Regbo
Plot: The film opens with the Brit-rock band: The Echoes of Albion, playing a live show in Glasgow. The performance sounds pretty good and the crowd in the venue seem to be into it. The band consists of two brothers: singer Aidan Kendrick (Tom Glynn-Carney) and guitarist Jack Kendrick (Tom Holland). Ben Davis (Aneurin Barnard), a friend of Jack’s, on bass. Tommy Owens (Toby Regbo), a drummer who answered an audition call for the band. As the song ends, the crowd cheers as the band exits the stage.
We get our first hint of a little tension backstage between Jack and Aidan. When Jack says they sounded good, Aidan scoffs and accuses Jack of being slightly out of tune. For Ben, you can see it in his face that the brotherly bickering is par for the course. The band’s manager, Jesse Austen (Rhys Ifans), tells the band they are still cheering and want an encore. Aidan tells Jack to play in-tune for at least one of their songs tonight. Ben holds Jack back from fighting, reminding him its a music stage and not a wrestling ring.
The Echoes march back to the stage for their encore and the show goes on.
After the concert, the band is hanging out in a small pub, throwing back some beers and celebrating their successful show. Jack is playing a game of Snooker with Ben, Tommy and Jesse. Aidan is sitting at the bar and having some drinks. Jesse talks about the work he’s been doing to get the band overseas, meanwhile Aidan rolls his eyes and says the band is fine in the UK, why chase? Jesse reminds him of the ultimate goal the band set. Aidan mumbles ‘you mean you set’ Aidan looks at a woman sitting at a bar. He takes one more shot of liquid courage and introduces himself as the singer The Echoes of Albion. She is a little uncomfortable, but tries to be polite in an attempt to turn him down, saying she’s never heard of them, he offers to take her back to his flat and will let her listen to their music.
Before she can get an answer, a large tough guy catches Aidan flirting with the woman and threatens to beat Aidan up for flirting with his wife. Things get a little heated, Aidan throws a punch at the guy. It doesn’t phase him, only makes him angrier. He grabs Aidan by the lapel and throws Aidan into barstools. The rest of the band see what’s happening and try to deescalate the fight. They start to leave out of the bar with the tough guy shouting for Aidan to never step foot in his pub again.
Jack scolds Aidan, asking when he’s going to grow up and stop getting into fights he can’t finish, says he’s not always going to be around to fight his battles. Aidan says he never needed Jack to fight his battles, Jack says all of those years in school would say otherwise. Aidan storms off.
Aidan is in his flat drinking some beers he had in his fridge. He answers a knock on his door to a beautiful woman. She confirms his name and tells him she takes her money up front. Aidan fishes through his pocket for money and hands her a stack of bills.
Jack on the other hand is in his own flat. He is having a moment of reflecting from the concert and the following fight with Aidan, while flipping through a photo album. The photos show him getting his guitar when he was a kid, including some photos of Aidan singing on a toy microphone while Jack is playing guitar. Jack puts the photo album down and picks up the very guitar he received as a kid, the guitar he was playing with at the concert earlier, and starts playing a song.
At the recording studio, Jesse is taking a phone call outside the studio. Ben approaches the studio door and exchanges a wave with Jesse as he goes inside. Jesse seems to be on a concerning phone call with the drummer, Tommy. You can hear Jesse ask, “I swear Tommy, its not always like that, please reconsider.” Ben sees Jack and Aidan in the recording booth. Aidan cracks a joke at Ben, “Its about time the homo showed up, what happened, Ben? Did you fall out of the bed and your lover thought you were making an offer?” Only Aidan laughs at his own joke. Ben remarks that at least he doesn’t have to pay anyone to be his lover. Jack tries to hold back a laugh, and just as Aidan is about to respond, Jesse steps into the recording booth, saying Tommy quit and blames Aidan.
Ben asks what they’re going to do then, and Jesse says they’ll just have to record everyone’s part without a drummer until they can find a new one. A young woman, Ashton (Sophie Turner) steps into the booth. Ashton is the recording engineer for the band. She asks if they’re ready to record. Jesse explains they’re going to do all of the parts but the drummer for the day. Ashton catches Jack looking at her, when he notices she’s looking at him, he breaks his eye contact and tries to look somewhere else. Aidan shoots a disapproving glance at Jack.
We get a montage, some shots of the band recording, with Ashton doing her own job and Jesse standing nearby. During Jack’s recording session, he stares Ashton down and it seems like he’s playing his guitar for her.
When the montage ends, everyone is feeling good about the recording session. Jesse says that he just needs to find the right drummer to complete the song, get it out over the radio. Ashton gets on the drums and plays, impressing Jack, Jesse and Ben.
The band are performing live at a venue in Liverpool with Ashton as their new drummer. Jack and Ashton have a moment on the stage where Jack plays some guitar with Ashton responding with some drums of their own, as if the instruments are talking to each other. It appears to annoy Aidan a bit, but he knows to keep it professional on stage. When the song ends, the band exits the stage.
Aidan reprimands Ashton and Jack, not approving of the improvising and leaves
Jack, Ashton and Ben step out on stage for encore. Jack tells the fans they’re gonna do something different tonight since Aidan had to leave for an emergency, but they didn’t want to leave the crowd hanging without an encore. They start jamming and the fans enjoy the musical jam session they have before they tell the fans goodnight.
Aidan winds up in a gentleman’s club, watching the ladies dance on stage while some working the floor ask if he wants a private dance. Ashton and Jack end up having tea together in Jack’s flat. Jack picks up his guitar and strums it. Jack begins telling the story of how he got the guitar, how his parents didn’t have a lot of money when they were growing up and they pitched in together to buy him a guitar when he was a young kid. We learn that their parents passed in a plane accident on their way back from visiting overseas. Jack and Aidan’s grandparents gave them a place to grow up in, but Jack being the older brother has been the one whose looked out for Aidan. Ashton listens to Jack strum a few notes.
Ashton and Jack get to work, finding some inspiration for a new song to help put them on the international track.
The next scene is at the recording studio, Jack and Ashton are in high spirits, feeling like they wrote a song together that could be their international breakout hit. Aidan tells them that he doesn’t sing someone else’s songs. Jack says “Well your songs aren’t getting us out of the UK, are they?” to which Aidan replies, “Maybe that’s the whole bloody point.” Jesse decides to let them record the song for their upcoming album. As they play it out, we see a closeup of Jesse nodding along, a smile growing on his face.
The song, titled Tomorrow’s Treasure, does start picking up steam and a small montage shows it gaining coverage over the airwaves. The band playing the song live, music magazine articles giving the band and their songs extensive coverage. They make a music video for Tomorrow’s Treasure. We see Jack, Ashton and Ben working hard at making more songs while Aidan is enjoying some of the moderate success of the band getting drunk, high and bringing home women to sleep with.
Echoes of Albion are backstage before another live concert in London. Jesse is telling them that he’s getting calls from the big time record labels in the states, saying negotiation is all part of the fun. We’ll be going international soon. Aidan looks over the setlist for the band.
He scoffs at Tomorrow’s Treasure being the closer. Jack reminds Aidan that its the hit song. Aidan says its just A hit song and he’s tired of everyone asking to play it. Aidan gives a short rant saying they go out there and deliver a great 2 hour show and the only bloody fucking thing they want to hear is one stupid earworm. We’re not playing it tonight.
Jesse tells Aidan that tonight, here in London, is not the night to be throwing a hissy fit. Jesse says he will sing the song, or he could just as easily find someone who will sing the song.
As the crowd cheers for Echoes of Albion to take the stage, the band marches out to the stage and starts the concert. We get a few clips of the band doing well on stage with the crowd hyped for the song. Shouts from the fans yelling for them to play the song can be heard as the band continues on with the show. Once its time to come to the closer, Aidan polls the fans what they want to hear. Do they want to hear the same song they’ve been hearing for months now, or do they want to hear something new? “Give me a cheer if you want to hear something brand new?” Aidan says. Jack tries to ask what Aidan thinks he’s doing. “Just sing Tomorrow’s Treasure,” Jack tells him. “Aren’t you the one that likes to improvise on stage? You might be happy being Jesse’s puppet band, but I want to do something new.”
The fans cheer for ‘something new’ so Aidan tells the band to just play what feels right. Ashton and Ben start off playing, Jack stares Aidan down, clearly a tense staring contest between both of them. Suddenly, Jack decides to give up and start playing on the guitar to join the rest of the band. The fans are enjoying the music, and Aidan starts singing. The lyrics diss Tomorrow’s Treasure, calling it annoying and the only song people care about. Aidan tosses the mic down and exits the stage as the rest of the band isn’t sure what to do, but they keep playing the song they had worked up. The crowd is also confused on what the heck just happened.
Aidan marches down a backstage hallway. Jesse chases after Aidan, calling out to him. He stops Aidan and asks just what the hell just happened out there. Aidan tells Jesse to bugger off. As Aidan keeps walking away, Jesse shouts to him that if it weren’t for him, he and Jack would still be in some rinky-dink pub in Rutland, singing for peanuts and free beer. Aidan mumbles to himself that at least we’d be ourselves. The press swarm Jesse as he tries to explain what happened on the stage. Jesse tries to run cover, telling them is was all part of a new act they wanted to try out.
Ashton, Jack, Ben and Jesse are all at a dinner table in a restaurant. Ben asks if anyone has heard from Aidan since the show. Jesse and Jack shake their heads. Jesse says that he knows when the next concert is going to be, he’ll be there. Ashton decides to speak up, asking why they can’t just throw Aidan out and find a new singer. She states that they would be better off without him. Jack declines her suggestion, saying that he and Aidan started the band together. Ben chimes in, asking why can’t he and Aidan resolve their childish issues then, saying its only going to lead to no good. Jack says things are fine between him and Aidan the way they are.
Ashton and Jack spend time in Jack’s flat. Jack plays a song about his feelings for Ashton and they kiss, but are interrupted by a phone call: Aidan’s been arrested. Jack bails Aidan out and they argue.
The band is backstage at another concert, this time in Liverpool. Aidan arrives, drinking some liquor. Ben decides its a great time to make a snide remark at Aidan about being in jail, “Did you drop any soap before Jack got there, or were they too late?” Instead of being insulted, Aidan laughs. He seems to already be drunk. Jesse is uncomfortable with Aidan in that state, but the show must go on. “Look, just try your best and don’t pass out on the stage.”
The band is playing away, Aidan is having a hard time keeping his balance and trying(badly) not to slur the lyrics. We see in his point of view, the disorienting blinding stage lights, the blurriness of the rest of the band and the fans. Aidan stumbles over to a spot next to Ben, turns away from the crowd and in a quick moments, we hear the sound of pee splashing on the stage. Jack, Ben and Ashton are all uncomfortable, looking at each other as if to ask what they should do. The crowd begins to notice what he is doing and their cheers die down. All Aidan can hear is radio silence. After he finishes peeing, he stumbles off the stage.
The press is surrounding Jesse again, asking if this was just another improvised act that he talked about before. The press seems to doubt Jesse saying it was all just a rouse, but he avoids questions, making his way to his car. Once he gets in, he shouts “god damn it, Aidan!” and hits the steering wheel before driving away. Jack, Ben and Ashton are leaving the venue, some fans shout out to them for autographs and pictures. Aidan seems to have made his way to a pub, sitting at the bar and drinking, approached by a woman who recognizes and flirts with him, calling his antics punk rock. They have sex in her car.
Not long after the pee incident, Aidan marches his way into the recording studio. When he opens a door to an office, he finds Jack, Ashton, Ben and Jesse all sitting in a circle. “Well Aidan, nice of you to join us,” Jesse says. “Ah hell, is this some kind of intervention?” Aidan asks. “Lets just say its an emergency meeting.” Jesse says. Aidan sits down for what actually is an intervention, a last chance effort to attempt to right the ship.
For the next concert in Nottingham, we get a taste to see that maybe the intervention could have worked. The band is working as a cohesive unit, Aidan is behaving himself, the fans are having a great time. No incidents happen that Jesse has to cover up for, just a regular normal concert. Some people in the audience are waiting with baited breath to see what the next “act” is going to be. Echoes of Albion step off the stage to the roaring crowd. While some fans are cheering the performance, others are disappointed that they didn’t get to see another act. “Maybe they’ll save it for the encore this time,” one hopeful concert goer suggests.
The band, along with Jesse, congratulate each other for a great show. Aidan, all smiles, says, “Lets go out there and give them what they came to hear.” “You mean you actually want to play Tomorrow’s Treasure?” Ashton asks, Aidan nods. “And I tell ya kids what, after the show, I’ll take Ben to be his wingman in a gaybar and you two can go out and have a nice celebration shag.”
Jack, Ashton and Ben seem a little suspicious. Has Aidan really turned over a new leaf, or is he building up for something even more devastating to the group? They step back out to the stage and play Tomorrow’s Treasure. The fans sing along, wave lighters and enjoy themselves. It seems like for once everyone is in the moment together, no funny business, just an epic show. Echoes tell the fans goodnight and exit the stage with the roaring fans, even the fans expecting another meltdown had too much of a good time to forget what they came for.
Backstage, Jesse rounds the band up for an important announcement. He tells them all to pack their bags, because their going on a North American tour! Ashton, Jack and Ben cheer and hug. Aidan sits back, watching the band celebrate. The camera lingers on his fake smiling expression. His vision to keep the band in the UK fades away. Jack and Ashton are packing their bags and talking about being able to see North American for the first times in their lives. Their chat leads them to an implied lovemaking encounter
We are now inside a plane. Aidan keeps his thoughts to himself as he stares out the window. Ben decides to get down on the aisle floor and do some sit ups and stretches. Jack is in another seat on the plane, strumming away at his guitar with Ashton sleeping in the seat next to him. Jesse is making some phone calls, showing he’s always hard at work to keep the band moving. Camera lingers on Aidan, who watches the clouds roll by, lost in his own thoughts.
In a hotel room in Las Vegas, their first stop on tour, Aidan gets a knock on his door. Its only Ashton, who requests to have a few words with him. He steps out of the way and lets her in. She tells him that she’s noticed he’s been quiet for a while and wants to know if he wanted to just have someone to talk to. Aidan stands by the window and looks out at the nice view of Vegas, all of the lights and glamour of the city. “What a phony town,” he says. “I happen to think its beautiful!”says Ashton. “Not like back home. Its just an amusement park in the middle of a desert,” Aidan says. Ashton shakes her head and asks, “Aidan, what do you really have against taking the band overseas? What is so wrong with wanting to elevate the band to heights neither you nor your brother could have ever dreamed about as kid?” “Maybe that was all Jack’s dream. Which is why he barely hesitated to say yes when Jesse offered to be our manager. The bigger a band gets, the more their passion dies. At least when we were just unknowns playing at birthday parties, our music was ours.”
“But we ARE still writing our music. Jack and I came up with Tomorrow’s Treasure together.” Aidan grins, “That song is just what the corporate record labels like. Something akin to children’s music. Safe, easy to listen to and sing. I’m not even surprised our stupid fans eat it up at every show.” Ashton gives up and leaves.
We get a montage of the band enjoying their time in the states, playing the tour, sight seeing, Aidan seems to be isolated still. Exhausted, not fully engaged. The band gets pictures and autographs with the fans, Aidan still going through the motions will allow pictures, but finds it hard to even fake smiles for fans.
The montage finishes up as the band is live on stage in the historic Madison Square Garden Arena in New York. They are finishing up another concert. Jack tells the fans that before they go home, he has one thing he wants to say… to Ashton. He gets nervous, tells a little story of how Ashton said it was once her dream to play Madison Square Garden live, and he says his dream, is for her to accept his marriage proposal. He gets on his knee, holds her hand and asks her in front of the crowd. Ashton accepts, and the fans cheer. Ben is applauding, tells the fans humorously that if there is any guy out there whose always wanted to sleep with the bass player of a band, he’ll be out in the parking lot waiting. Aidan storms off the stage, nobody seems to notice. Aidan goes to the hotel and in a fit of jealous resentful rage, trashes the room.
A few hours later, we see Jesse seemingly smoothing things over with the hotel, offering to pay for it and to keep Aidan’s tantrum away from the press. Jesse tells Aidan that shit can’t fly if they’re going to be international. Aidan says he never wanted to go international anyway. Jesse says “You’ll go anywhere I want you to go. After this tour, we’ll go to Asia, Autralia and hell, if I want you to play in front of elephants in Africa, I’ll send you there.” Aidan stares Jesse down for a moment, grins and says “Fine.”
We are on stage in Los Angeles. Echoes of Albion finish up a song mid-set. Aidan appears to be highly intoxicated again. He drops insults about America, which make the band really uncomfortable. Aidan notices an American Flag off to the side and rubs it across his backside. The fans are shouting and booing. Jack asks Aidan what he’s doing. Aidan drops insults at Jack, calling him a sellout. He tells Jack that in Vegas, Ashton came to his hotel room “and you know what the saying goes. What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.” Jack looks at Ashton, she shakes her head, Aidan throws a punch at Jack. This sets both brothers off into a huge scuffle, knocking instruments over as the fans watch, confused. Ashton steps back as the drumset falls over. Ben and security try to pull the brothers apart. Aidan grabs Jack’s guitar and holds it over his head, threatening to smash it. Jack pleads to Aidan, Aidan takes a moment to think, but ultimately decides to smash the guitar, then storms off the stage, Jack in complete shock, drops to his knees, staring at the pieces of his instrument. Some fans in the crowd mutter to others about how that was the coolest act they’ve ever done.
As the lights go up, the camera zooms out, Jack still on his knees staring at the pile of shards that was once his beloved guitar. Fans start leaving the venue after Ben tells them goodnight. Ashton stands next to Jack, rubbing his shoulder.
Some time later, TV is showing the Grammy Awards. Aidan Kendrick as a winner for best solo album. Aidan is happy, gives an excited speech about winning the award. Jack and Ashton, tell their sons about their time in the band. Ashton reveals to Jack she kept the shards of his guitar.
The next day, Jack finishes digging a hole in the backyard. He drops the box of shards in the hole and buries it, giving it what he calls a proper funeral. He smiles at Ashton, holds one of her hands while he holds one of his son’s hands, Ashton holding their other son’s hand and they walk back toward their house. The camera pans to show a sign the young boys drew of the band as the guitar’s tombstone.
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