Indies rarely get sequels.
Richard Linklater’s Before Sunrise trilogy. Clerks. Not too many others.
Joining this club is The Brothers McMullen, which won Sundance in 1995. The sequel is The Family McMullen, which HBO is releasing today.
I sat down with the director, writer, and co-star of both films, Edward Burns, as well as the lead in both films, Connie Britton (White Lotus S1). The films, using much of the same cast, show how family values evolve and erode over the course of a generation.
Britton, who made her acting debut in The Brothers McMullen, shared:
“This [sequel] reflects wisdom, earned wisdom of age, even though we have all these young characters… As we grow older and wiser, there actually is a releasing of cynicism.”
The cynicism burrowed in much of the first film is that the brothers are terrified of getting tied down by marriage.
That’s the wonderful irony of The Family McMullen, Burns explained:
“None of those relationships from the first film worked out, but maybe that isn’t for the worse. Maybe that isn’t a bad thing. Because in the end, you’re older, you’re wiser, you discover…”
The charm of the film is that each character, in their own way, overcomes their stasis and finds love, whether for the first time or 2nd… or 3rd time.
But while most characters escape their bad habits, Ed Burns’ character is tinged with the trauma of his upbringing. In fact, he parrots a line to his children that his father said to him in The Brothers McMullen:
“The only thing I want to hear out of you is nothing.”
It’s said slightly in jest, but it’s a haunting moment that we can’t fully outgrow the imprints of our youth.
For More:
The Brothers McMullen trailer
The Family McMullen trailer.
