THE REEL LESS TRAVELED

Gritty and atmospheric, the definitive version of Charles Burnett’s “My Brother’s Wedding” took 24 years to complete but was well worth the wait. The bittersweet vision of lower-income, African American L.A. was shot in 1983, but Burnett’s overenthusiastic German producers submitted an early rough cut to the New Directors/New Films Festival in New York, and mixed reviews scared off distributors.

A recent restoration by the Pacific Film Archive and acquisition by Milestone Films has allowed Burnett to finally finish editing his director’s cut, which screens Saturday at UCLA along with the filmmaker’s recently re-released 1977 “Killer of Sheep” and his new documentary short on Hurricane Katrina, “Quiet as Kept.” ( www.cinema.ucla.edu)

“My Brother’s Wedding” has a cast of nonprofessional actors headed by Everette Silas as Pierce Mundy, a 30-year-old living with his parents and working in their modest dry-cleaning business. Burnett mixes slice-of-life drama and biting humor to capture a world that feels as real as a documentary and one that has largely disappeared.

Culture, economics and an inability to adapt keep Pierce trapped, while the impending nuptials of his brother Wendell, a lawyer, coupled with the prison release of a bad-news friend, put the squeeze on the young man’s allegiances. The film is another link in the fortuitous rediscovery of this seminal director’s work.

-- Kevin.Crust@latimes.com