Brüder wider Willen (1996)

Brüder wider Willen: Directed by Richard Pearce. With Robert Duvall, James Earl Jones, Michael Beach, Irma P. Hall. Earl Pilcher, Jr., runs an equipment rental outfit in Arkansas, lives with his wife and kids and parents, and rarely takes off his gimme cap. His mother dies, leaving a letter explaining he’s not her natural son, but the son of a Black woman who died in childbirth. Plus, he has a half-brother Ray, in Chicago, she wants him to visit. Earl makes the trip, initially receiving a cold welcome from Ray and Ray’s son, Virgil. His birth mother’s sister, Aunt T., an aged and blind matriarch, takes Earl in tow and insists that the family open up to him.

“I love this movie very much. I wish more people saw it, and also that Irma P. Hall got a nomination, because she was fantastic and memorable. I thought everyone else in the cast was great, too, but Hall steals the movie from her more-famous co-stars.”