To Live and Die and Live

“It’s rare to see Black Muslim Americans depicted with the understated authenticity seen in To Live and Die and Live.”

Title: To Live and Die and Live (2023)
Director: Qasim Basir 👨🏾🇺🇸
Writer: Qasim Basir 👨🏾🇺🇸

Reviewed by Li 👩🏻🇺🇸

—MINOR SPOILERS AHEAD—

Technical: 2/5

Premiering at Sundance Film Festival earlier this morning, Qasim Basir’s To Live and Die and Live pulls viewers into a lyrical story of one man’s return to his hometown of Detroit. There, Muhammed (Amin Joseph) assigns himself the task of providing for his mother and adult sisters after the passing of their family patriarch, Khalid (Monti Browne). But saddled with funeral costs he can’t afford and carrying enough emotional baggage to sink the Titanic, something’s got to give.

That “thing” is Muhammed’s mental health, and he wades through much of the film in a drug- and alcohol-induced stupor as he tries to numb the edges of a serrated life: A coke bender sees him hungover at a funeral home the next day; he chugs liquor before speaking in front of college-aged aspiring filmmakers, only to act alarmingly in front of them; he crashes a car while drunk. These are just a few of the many incidents packed into a feature-length film’s worth of watching a man spiral.

This desperation hardly lives just in the script. Bleak cinematography restlessly roams Detroit bars and clubs at night, lit by neon bulbs and wan fluorescents. When we do pass time outside, even the sun feels faded, yellow-tinted, and sallow. Without moments of levity or fresh air—whether narratively, visually, or aurally—To Live and Die and Live drags you down with Muhammed. A flicker of catharsis eventually comes, late in the film. But it’s not nearly enough to balance this quagmire of a film.

Gender: 2.5/5
Does it pass the Bechdel Test? NOPE

Although several women round out the supporting cast, none are given more than a dimension or two to explore. Muhammed’s mother (Jeryl Prescott) acts lovingly towards her family; his sister Iman (Maryam Basir) cares for him and tries to get him to go to an AA meeting, but is ultimately powerless; the woman he meets early in the film and parties with, Asia (Skye P. Marshall), is on her own path to oblivion; and his half-sister Lisa (Dana Gourrier) plays nice with her father’s second family, but secretly resents them all. At no point do any of these women speak to each other about anything other than Khalid or Muhammed, which underlines how To Live and Die and Live has little interest in their respective journeys.

Race: 5/5

Black director-writer Basir creates a film that follows almost entirely Black characters, and their cultural backgrounds inform the story without ever feeling ham-fisted. In the director’s own words, he wanted “to talk about addiction through the eyes of Black people, who aren't depicted as crackheads.” Basir easily achieves this, showing how Muhammed finds escape, and even moments of brittle joy, when he’s under the influence by contrasting substance-induced highs with the pain of everyday life, the latter filled with isolating family dinners and dehumanizing artifice in his chosen career as a filmmaker.

Bonus for Religion: +1.00

Also mirroring Basir’s lived experience of growing up Muslim in Ann Arbor and Detroit are the Muslim characters that comprise Muhammed and his family. Faith and religion naturally weave throughout the film: We see Muhammed perform ghusl and help shroud his father’s body at a funeral home. Soothing, chanted prayer punches through the darkness for some of the film’s most peaceful, fleeting moments. It’s rare to see Black Muslim Americans depicted with such understated authenticity—To Live and Die and Live helps fill a very real void, in that respect.

Bonus for Disability: +0.25

A minor character, Yusuf (Ismail Abdul-Aziz), has skin discolorations on his face and body. His condition is entirely normalized, the focus of his character falling more around Yusuf’s faith; he works with Imam Amir (Omar Regan) at the Muslim center and assists Muhammed in carrying out the ghusl and shrouding of Khalid’s body, among other brief scenes.

Mediaversity Grade: B- 3.58/5

Basir’s goal of communicating the “pain, depression, and the first panic attacks of [his] life” he suffered during the pandemic is a laudable one. But at the end of the day, the laden script, oppressive visuals, and difficult pacing leaves To Live and Die and Live a dreary watch.

Like To Live and Die and Live? Try these other titles that tackle addiction.

Grade: BLiJanuary 20, 2023Great for: Race, Great for: Religion