After the Screaming Stops

There are only two reasons to watch this documentary. You are a Brosette from the 1980s or you heard that this was a real life Spinal Tap mockumentary.

It is obvious that a lot of footage here has been contrived. Matt and Luke might have fallen out several decades ago but negotiations must have taken place between the brothers for them to: a) reunite for a special series of concerts and b) to be followed by a documentary crew.

What the documentary crew captured was how unaware the two brothers are, especially Matt. My wife just burst out giggling with some of the stuff the brothers came out with.

'This area's for conversations.'

'I made a conscious decision because of Stevie Wonder. To not be superstitious.'

All of it without any irony.

Bros were the next big boy band to emerge after Wham called it a day. Their best known song was 'When Will I be Famous?' Their fame lasted for exactly 15 minutes. The band consisted of twins Matt & Luke Goss as well as Craig Logan the bass player. We see some footage of Craig but he really has been airbrushed out of Bros history.

Ironically Craig who quit the band at the height of their brief fame is the most successful one as a music executive.

Matt is a crooner who pretends to be Frank Sinatra in the lounge of a Las Vegas hotel. His audience probably consists of middle aged British Bros fans and their exasperated husbands. Luke managed to carve a niche as a straight to DVD action star.

The brothers were hoping that there is enough nostalgia out there for Bros to have a long series of nights at the O2 but the shows only lasted two nights. I guess those tickets did not fly off the shelves.

Just see the brothers when they are not arguing, going through their set list for the upcoming tour. They debate what they should leave out. Hold on you only had three hit songs!

Watch it for all the wrong reasons.

A music documentary about a band you have little emotional investment in is a big ask, especially when it's tracking their comeback. But this documentary is something different; for a start, love or hate their music, Bros were (for a short time) a genuine cultural force for those of us who were becoming aware of music in the 1980s. And, as this documentary makes clear, they make for unexpectedly entertaining subjects; it's not quite clear if this is deliberate or inadvertent (I tend to the latter). But this is a film full of endlessly quotable, genuinely laugh out loud moments; if's downright funnier than most comedies. For the most part Matt and Luke are the only voices we hear; and despite the humour, there are also some moments that are clearly moving; especially when they talk about the deaths of their sister and, later, their mother. The big London comeback gig - which the film builds up to - serves as a moment of genuine cathartic release for band and viewer alike; and though I still have no affection for their music, there's a sense of deeper appreciation for the people behind the music - even as I laugh at them.

Charming melange of Spinal Tap, David Brent and People Do Nothing which is compulsive viewing even for anyone who imagines that a Bros reunion gig is the last thing they fancy witnessing.

I am not a Bros fan I am a movie and music fan, I see so many 10 ratings of this documentary by Brosettes its obvious that this has been overrated, but not by much... Bros were a 80s band who had a female support much like Take That had in the 90s while Bros were an 80s band. There were three members, two brothers and another member who is missing from this documentary. The band had some success and like most of the teen bands of the time, split up and the brothers went their separate ways. One continued as a musician while the other made a name for himself as a B grade Hollywood actor. This documentary focuses on the two brothers preparation of a come back concert over 20 years after they split up. Since then its obvious that they have serious problems getting along and they have spent time apart mainly due to the brotherly hate which arises whenever they are in the same room. While this is a documentary about a band reforming its really about the relationship between the two brothers who seem to slip back into sibling rivalry and pick at each other like children, despite them now being well into their 40s. They seem at times completely unable to stop themselves slipping back into a cycle of conflict which seems to arrive out of nowhere and threatens to derail the comeback concert. Stuck in the middle of this conflict are support band members and management who have no idea where to look of how to manage the situation. At times the viewer is left feeling very uncomfortable with whats on screen due the sheer rawness of the emotions on display. This is a very warts and all documentary, little is left to the imagination and this is no vanity project. Its not all arguments however, there is humour and some of it is even on purpose. Some of the musings of the Goss brothers are simply laugh out funny and its difficult to tell their level of self awareness. It has elements of Spinal Tap except this is for real. The documentary also covers the losses the brothers have experienced and these scenes are very emotional. In all this documentary covers every emotional range and is very engaging, you neither need to know who Bros were or be a fan of their music to enjoy this. I can recommend this to most people, although their fans apparently have been re-watching this over and again. You will certainly want to watch this at least once as its one of the best documentaries of 2018.

There's footage from their peak where the Goss twins are surrounded by 100s of screaming girls, plus the one boy. Him being quite the unexpected fan as boys, including 10 year old me, absolutely did NOT like Bros. However, as an adult, I do find myself revisiting stories from my early years that I was too young at the time to fully comprehend, and I watched 'After' wanting to know how the biggest phenomena of 1988 fell out of favour so quick.

'After' follows the Goss Bros reuniting for their first performance together since their initial split, and the doc follows the preparation for their comeback gig (at the London 02 Arena no less), interspersed with archive footage and the brothers looking back at their childhood and the peak years of their success.

Within the first 10 minutes, Matt is giving us a tour of his home, showing us, completely irony free, a commissioned painting of his bulldog with a pint of beer. There seems to be little change from their 80s selves, ludicrous with no apparant sense of self-awareness, but this is actually what makes the film a hugely entertaining watch, for the fan and non-fan. The prize quotes from the film and have been plastered all round the internet, so I don't need to repeat them here - there are some real laugh out loud moments, and I'm left thinking that the brothers are in on the joke but they won't show any cracks in their facade.

My bigger disappointment in the film was that there is little insight into their decline. They had a hugely successful first year, followed by a more muted comeback in 1989, and a barely noticed third clutch of singles and an album in 1991. There was the departure of Craig Logan (the rumour mill at the time suggested the boys kicked him out, not true), mockery and hostility from the press, competition by way of Jason Donovan and New Kids On The Block, and no especially memorable songs after 'I Owe You Nothing' and 'When Will I Be Famous'. They touch on Luke quitting, their financial troubles, and the stress of the sheer venom unleashed upon them, however, by the end of the film, I was left non the wiser as at the start - what actually happened?

As the boys arrive at the airport, they receive an enthusiastic and emotional greeting from the grown-up Brosettes, showing that 30 years later, they still mean a great deal to some of their fans. These same fans would wait all day outside the family house in Peckham for a glimpse of the twins - a major intrusion into their personal lives - but they (and their mother) took it well, happy to go outside hug fans and give autographs, whilst other stars would hide behind their bodyguards. This invites cynics like me to want the twins to deliver a knockout comeback performance, whilst the decades apart from each other in a studio has not softened their clashing personalities, and we're left wondering if the twins reunion will indeed lead to destruction or the genesis of new beginnings.

For a fan, this naturally is a must, but there is plenty of reasons for the non-fan to watch. And to imagine they nearly called themselves Caviar...