MY BROTHER'S WEDDING

What a great year it's turning out to be for director Charles Burnett and filmgoers who appreciate his work. First came the long-running revival of Killer of Sheep, and now his previously unreleased My Brother's Wedding is at the IFC Center. But hurry up: It's supposed to close Thursday, with Burnett scheduled to appear at two Wednesday evening screenings.

Like Killer of Sheep, My Brother's Wedding spends time with a number of characters situated in a beaten down African American community. The dialogue/image ratio is more conventional, but it still offers a set of fascinating and engaging scenes that add up to an artfully told tale.

The tale of My Brother's Wedding as a movie is a painful showbiz story. Burnett hadn't finished it when his producers screened a version at New Directors/New Films in 1984...critic Janet Maslin's write-up in The New York Times was mixed but not without some harshness...apparently that was enough to scare off distributors and leave My Brother's Wedding in cinema limbo until very recently, when Burnett was able to put some finishing edits on the movie and earn A. O. Scott's okay in the Times.

My Brother's Wedding is still uneven, but the goodness of it prevails. I recommend seeing the movie and letting it unfold without knowing much about it, so think twice before reading the old Times review and the new Times review if you haven't seen My Brother's Wedding first.