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Hulu’s Bruiser offers a compelling meditation on masculinity and avoids the trappings of typical good vs evil stories in favor of poignant naturalism.
Warning: This article contains spoilers for Bruiser!Bruiser takes an unflinching look at toxic masculinity in a way that doesn’t give its audience easy answers. Bruiser follows 14-year-old Darious (Jalyn Hall) as he navigates manhood with two father figures, his strict but loving father Malcolm (Shamier Anderson) and a charismatic loner Porter (Trevontae Rhodes). The dynamic performances between the three men make for a compelling watch aided by newcomer director Miles Warren’s beautiful direction. Bruiser is one of those small dramas that prioritizes naturalism over the typical escapism of many feature films.
Bruiser is the first narrative film released by the Onyx Collective, a content brand owned and operated by Disney Entertainment that primarily consists of projects from underrepresented groups. Other projects from the Onyx collective include Hulu’s legal drama Reasonable Doubt and docuseries The 1619 Project. Bruiser has been compared to Moonlight in both subject and performance. After all, Trevontae Rhodes plays a key role in both films. Currently, Bruiser sits 2 percent ahead of Moonlight on Rotten Tomatoes, at 100 percent among critics and 93 percent among audiences.
Bruiser Avoids A Hero Or Villain Story (& Makes The Movie Better For It)
Towards the end of Bruiser, the conflict between Malcolm and Porter revealed to be Darious’ real father, turns from a simmer to a boil. The two engage in a brutal fight while Darious hides in the car. When Darious emerges from the vehicle, his bloody and bruised father figures stare up at him. Instead of comforting him, the two disappear into the darkness to continue the violence. Left by himself, Darious decides to drive his father’s car away. This ambiguous ending ultimately means that Darious has to choose for himself. Darious didn’t choose either father figure and must learn to navigate manhood on his own.
The easy call in Bruiser would’ve been moving the scales in the final setup to make a villain and hero story, but the avoidance of this is what ultimately left an impact on audiences. In a Collider interview before Bruiser’s release, Darious actor Jalyn Hal describes the movie as “there’s no bad or good, there’s just emotions that drive you to do certain things, but from a blind eye you’ll see ‘oh he’s the villain he’s the hero,’ but nobody’s the villain or the hero.” Bruiser’s best ending leaves the audience without a cliché perfect resolution, providing a more potent viewing.
Why Bruiser’s Themes Meant It Needed Its Ending
Bruiser doesn’t just critique toxic masculinity but illustrates where these emotions come from. For example, Malcolm used to be beaten by his father, fostering anger inside him. In his youth, Malcolm and Porter were both brutally violent in fights. Both men tell stories of how the other nearly beat another man to death. Malcolm desperately doesn’t want his son to inherit his anger and tells him to control himself in conflict. However, Darious is drawn to the muscular and tough Porter, who is more than eager to teach him how to defend himself.
When Darious witnesses the brutal violence of both of his father figures, he ultimately chooses not to follow in either of their footsteps. Since Bruiser is primarily a coming-of-age movie, the film’s themes extend past toxic masculinity but also about the loneliness of learning that adults do not always have all the answers. Beautifully profound and poignant, Bruiser avoids giving easy answers and instead provides a stunning character piece about the difficulties of growing up.
Bruiser is now streaming exclusively on Hulu.
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