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Brothers
Despite some problematic casting and story structure, the 2009 drama Brothers is a sometimes explosive and vividly realistic look at mangled family relationships and the sometimes devastating effects of PTSD.
This remake of a Danish film stars Jake Gyllenhaal as Tommy Cahill, a man recently released from prison who steps up when his older brother, Sam (Tobey Maguire), a career marine, goes missing in Afghanistan and while Tommy is fighting long-buried feelings for his sister-in-law, Grace (Natalie Portman), Sam's battle to get home to his family has done irreparable damage.
I'm not sure where to start here...there's a whole lot going on here and I think screenwriter's David Benioff's work is a worthy attempt at trying to encompass too much. My first problem was with Sam going missing, there was just no suspense there. Grace and his daughters believe Sam is dead and it would have been nice if the viewer had been allowed to be curious a little longer about it. We know from jump that Sam is not dead because he's played by Toby Maguire, who receives top billing and the scenes of what he goes through are pretty non-watchable for several reasons. It would have served the story more effectively to have Sam played by a lesser known actor so that we might have actually wondered for more than 30 seconds if he was still alive.
Sam is severely damaged by what happened to him in Afghanistan and is a changed man when he returns home but he refuses to talk to anyone about what happened, making his behavior bizarre, shocking, and often unjustifiable, thereby making it hard to keep the character sympathetic, which is exactly what he should be. He does finally talk, but it takes way too long for it to happen.
The other problem here was that even though Maguire works hard in the role of Sam, he's just miscast...I never really buy him in the role of this military hero who has gleaned hero worship from his dad (Sam Shepherd) and resentment from Tommy. Not to mention the fact that Maguire looks younger than Gyllenhaal. Gyllenhaal and Portman are solid though and everything their characters go through rings true...especially Tommy's trying to resume a normal life after prison and trying to win back the long lost respect of his father.
Jim Sheridan's direction is better than the screenplay...he provides some moments of genuine shock, tangled emotions, and creates a family dynamic here that sizzles with tension every time these characters gathered around a dinner table. I think with someone else playing Sam, this film could have been something really special.
Despite some problematic casting and story structure, the 2009 drama Brothers is a sometimes explosive and vividly realistic look at mangled family relationships and the sometimes devastating effects of PTSD.
This remake of a Danish film stars Jake Gyllenhaal as Tommy Cahill, a man recently released from prison who steps up when his older brother, Sam (Tobey Maguire), a career marine, goes missing in Afghanistan and while Tommy is fighting long-buried feelings for his sister-in-law, Grace (Natalie Portman), Sam's battle to get home to his family has done irreparable damage.
I'm not sure where to start here...there's a whole lot going on here and I think screenwriter's David Benioff's work is a worthy attempt at trying to encompass too much. My first problem was with Sam going missing, there was just no suspense there. Grace and his daughters believe Sam is dead and it would have been nice if the viewer had been allowed to be curious a little longer about it. We know from jump that Sam is not dead because he's played by Toby Maguire, who receives top billing and the scenes of what he goes through are pretty non-watchable for several reasons. It would have served the story more effectively to have Sam played by a lesser known actor so that we might have actually wondered for more than 30 seconds if he was still alive.
Sam is severely damaged by what happened to him in Afghanistan and is a changed man when he returns home but he refuses to talk to anyone about what happened, making his behavior bizarre, shocking, and often unjustifiable, thereby making it hard to keep the character sympathetic, which is exactly what he should be. He does finally talk, but it takes way too long for it to happen.
The other problem here was that even though Maguire works hard in the role of Sam, he's just miscast...I never really buy him in the role of this military hero who has gleaned hero worship from his dad (Sam Shepherd) and resentment from Tommy. Not to mention the fact that Maguire looks younger than Gyllenhaal. Gyllenhaal and Portman are solid though and everything their characters go through rings true...especially Tommy's trying to resume a normal life after prison and trying to win back the long lost respect of his father.
Jim Sheridan's direction is better than the screenplay...he provides some moments of genuine shock, tangled emotions, and creates a family dynamic here that sizzles with tension every time these characters gathered around a dinner table. I think with someone else playing Sam, this film could have been something really special.