It’s a classic premise. Successful person who moved away from their hometown returns home to deal with a family issue, and now they’ve become something of an outsider. In the case of Qasim Basir’s film To Live and Die and Live, it’s an upcoming film director named Muhammad (Amin Joseph) who returns home to Detroit after the death of his stepfather.
Muhammad lands in Detroit, and before settling in or seeing family, he immediately starts to self-medicate by partying all night, drinking, and doing cocaine.
He meets a carefree woman named Asia (Skye P. Marshall), who’s having her own existential crisis. She comes into his life, possibly, at just the right time to help him discover something new about himself.
A night of partying bleeds into the next morning, which is the morning of his stepfather’s funeral. Muhammad is clearly a quiet, reserved man who has always been the one to help his family when needed.
He’s also less emotional at the funeral than his other family members, but it’s clear that he’s just as devastated.
Muhammad’s family sees him as successful, disconnected, and ultimately, the one who left. Meanwhile, he feels defeated, and he’s not nearly as successful as everyone believes him to be. So when he says he’ll handle the costs of the funeral, it means he’s under additional pressure to come up with that money.
On top of that, he is tasked with settling his stepfather’s accounts from his construction business. In the process, he hopes he can come up with enough money from those debts to cover the funeral costs.
This gives him reason to travel around his hometown, allowing him to continue seeing how different everything is now while also viewing things from a new perspective.
Ultimately, it’s a journey of self-discovery — and in the process, he has a few close calls, makes some heartbreaking decisions, and continues to try to bury his feelings with drugs and alcohol. He continues to see Asia, who connects with him on a deep level, but who also has little patience for some of his behavior.
The two have meaningful, philosophical conversations about life, death, and religion that encapsulate a lot of this film’s beauty. Asia has a tragic secret of her own that Muhammad eventually figures out, adding just one more emotional turn to the story.
Meanwhile, it becomes more and more clear that Muhammad is disenchanted with his career as a filmmaker in LA. His family, at one point, insists on watching his latest film. After they’ve seen it, the best they can say is that it’s “interesting,” and it’s hard to know if the film is truly bad or if it’s just another example of them not understanding Muhammad.
In a short amount of time, To Live and Die and Live covers a lot of ground. It’s clearly trying to make several statements about family, love, depression, addiction, and even the city of Detroit itself — which is, appropriately, treated like another character in the film. Because this is a film with so much to say, it doesn’t always hit the mark.
Some details are too brief, some characters aren’t given quite enough time, and some of the twists happen too suddenly. Still, the film is beautifully shot and incredibly powerful, with excellent performances and breathtaking imagery.
Although he’s generally stoic, Muhammad has several deeply emotional scenes, which are played perfectly by Amin Joseph. We’re talking about breathtaking, heart-wrenching moments that carry a great deal of weight.
Despite Muhammad’s self-destructive behavior and some of his horrific choices, he’s a character you can’t help but root for. The return home ultimately proves pivotal for Muhammad, and it’s a satisfying journey to watch.
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To Live and Die and Live originally premiered at Sundance. It is now available on digital and on-demand platforms.
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Ashley Bissette Sumerel
Ashley is the Editor-in-Chief of Eulalie Magazine. Favorite Movies: Sunset Boulevard, Garden State, Modern Times. Favorite TV Shows: Gilmore Girls, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Grey's Anatomy. Favorite Books: Interview with the Vampire, Dracula, City of Glass.
