Bruiser may mark the first time cinematographer Justin Derry and director Miles Warren have worked together on a feature, but their collaborative relationship goes back a few years. “Miles was looking for someone to shoot his first short, called Huntress, which was one of his student films at Wesleyan [University],” Derry said in our Zoom interview of his first encounter with Warren. “We had a lot of similar tastes and connected a lot on visual language. We liked a lot of the same films. He seemed like somebody I could collaborate well with because we were really excited and nerding about the same kind of stuff.”

Huntress was a chance opportunity — a friend of Derry had originally signed on to work with Warren, but dropped out and recommended him for the project — that, in retrospect, seemed a lot like fate. They would collaborate two more times (so far): on Bruiser, the short, and then its eponymous feature. Of course, what likely helped was being hit with a blizzard while filming Huntress. “We all got snowed in and couldn’t get back to the city. Miles’ dad had to dig our equipment truck out of the snow to get it back in time for returns. His mom cooked all our meals. They took care of us, which was pretty awesome.”
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
Having made its world premiere at Toronto International Film Festival 2022 in September, Bruiser is a movie about parenthood (fatherhood, more specifically), boyhood, toxic masculinity, and family. It follows 14-year-old Darious (Jalyn Hall) who, while on summer break, gets beat up by an older kid and, humiliated, runs into the woods. There, he meets Porter (Moonlight’s Trevante Rhodes), who offers to teach him how to fight back. Unbeknownst to Darious, Porter is actually the boy’s biological father, who abandoned him and his mother Monica (Shinelle Azoroh) before he was born. Naturally, this situation upsets Darious’ adoptive father Malcolm (Shamier Anderson), as he was the one who stepped in, supported Monica, and raised Darious.

Creating a Film-Like Texture While Shooting Digital

Lyrical Media / Ryder Picture Company / Silent R Management

Cinematographically, there were two major changes that occurred in the process of expanding Bruiser from short to feature. The first was a change in location: the feature was set in Alabama, whereas the short took place in New Jersey. On top of that, the short was shot on film, which would have been too expensive for the feature. “The goal [with the feature] was to make something new, but also still have the texture and painterly aspect of film,” Derry said. “Have it be a little bit soft, a little bit rough, a little bit like you’re ingrained in the image.” After a few camera tests, he landed on a combination of “pushing it to 3200 for the entire film, and then overexposing it,” while using softening filtration to achieve the filmic texture. “For the feature, I tried to embrace color a bit more. It has less of a dull or desaturated look than the short has. It’s a little warmer overall.”

Other key visual aspects of Bruiser are its framing and, by extension, aspect ratio. “4:3 was always part of the picture for us because Miles really wanted to imprison the characters in a box. Very rarely did we shoot multiple people in one frame.” According to Derry, he and Warren turned to old black and white portrait photography shot with a six-by-six Hasselblad camera, as well as other 4:3 films like Ali: Fear Eats the Soul, Come and See, and Prime Video’s Cold War. “For a movie [like Bruiser] that’s about these individual personalities, it really isolates them and puts them in their own space so that, when you’re seeing each person on-screen, they do feel like they’re 3D forces finding out each other, or opposing each other.”

Related: Exclusive: Cinematographer Ludovica Isidori Discusses Upcoming Thriller Sanctuary

With respect to Bruiser’s narrative, Derry’s cinematography effectively underscores the film’s examination of the long-studied concept of nature versus nurture. It, however, resists providing a cut-and-dry answer and, instead, unravels in Darious, Porter, and Malcolm everything they knew about themselves and each other. Since it’s premiere at TIFF, Bruiser has been met warmly by critics and audiences alike, with a solid 3.7 score on social platform Letterboxd and Little White Lies shouting out Derry’s work specifically. “It’s affirming to know that people are excited about the same things you are,” said Derry when asked about the film’s positive reception so far. “When you’re making a film, you have a sense of whether you’re proud of what you’re making while you’re making it. With Miles’ films, I’ve always been proud throughout the process. I’ve always believed in the script, the story, the process, and how we wanted to achieve it.”

As of this writing, Bruiser has yet to receive a release date. However, per Deadline, the film was acquired by Disney’s Onyx Collective and will be available to stream soon in the U.S. on Hulu.