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Directors Keith Fulton and Louis Pepe made their mark shadowing Terry Gilliam with The Hamster Factory and Lost in la Mancha.  With Brothers of the Head they move from documentary to mockumentary, to chart the rise and fall of fictional 70s rock band The Bang Bang and its frontmen, conjoined twins the Howe brothers.

In the East Anglian wilderness of L'Estrange Head, Tom and Barry Howe (Luke and Harry Treadaway), teenaged twins joined at the chest, are sold to music promoter Zak Bedderwick (Howard Attfield).  Living in a run-down manor house under the supervision of musician Paul (Dick) and manager Nick (Sean Harris) the boys are groomed into The Bang Bang, leading to a fame meteoric both in its rise and self destruction.

A fictional rock biography, Brothers of the Head, draws an obvious parallel with This is Spinal Tap, yet the label mockumentary is far from sufficient.  Fulton and Pepe owe a great deal to the format perfected by Christoper Guest, but while Guest ridicules his subjects, the Howe brothers are sympathetic characters, as cruelly manipulated as they are fatally flawed. 

The script by Tony Grisoni (Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Tideland) is classic tragedy.  The story of two very different people, interdependent physically and emotionally but as opposed as connected, unable to live either together or apart.

The film also provides a timely indictment of the music industry's craving for saleable product (''I've never exploited anyone who didn't want to be exploited,'' says Zak).  The film's gothic tone emphasising the unnaturalness of manufactured bands; Paul's regret and Nick's denial like that of Dr Frankenstein; and the comparison of tortured musician as freakshow, prescient during the current vogue for the crackhead pin-up.

But what makes this story of rise and fall masterful is the way it is told.  A faux documentary supposedly shot in the 70s forms the majority of the scenes, present day interviews with the band's inner circle and footage by Tom and Barry is added.  Even Ken Russell appears with footage from an unfinished dramatic take on the story.

On paper, the prospect is confusing and unbelievable, but the way the strands are edited together form a comprehensive narrative.  One made realistic through cinematography, including the use of 70s Super 8, and original tracks by Clive Langer.

Once the audience swallows the pitch of a promoter's wish to make conjoined twins into rock stars, Brothers of the Head becomes far from irreverent, expertly made and deeply intelligent.