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The Sisters Brothers
2018's The Sisters Brothers is a sumptuously mounted western drama that simultaneously respects the genre and gives it a healthy tweak that never really defies logic. The film takes a minute to get going but works thanks to moody direction and some really charismatic performances.
Based on a novel by Patrick DeWitt, the story opens in 1851 Oregon where we meet Eli Sisters (John C. Reilly) and his brother, Charlie (Joaquin Phoenix) who are professional hitmen who have been hired by someone called The Commodore (Rutger Hauer) to find a gold prospector named Herman Kermit Warm (Riz Ahmed) who has apparently perfected some kind of formula that allows mining for gold without all of the traditional gold prospecting equipment. Warm has already hooked up with another bounty of The Commodore's named John Morris (Jake Gyllenhaal) who quickly strikes a deal with the guy and the hunt begins though what happens when these four men finally come face to face isn't exactly what we expect.
When I first saw the premise of this film, I checked the credits to make sure it wasn't a Tarantino film. I mean, a pair of Old west hitmen sent by someone called The Commodore" to kill a mad scientist named Warm? If that doesn't sound like a Tarantino film, I don't know what does this. Actually, Jacques Audiard is credited as director and co-screenwriter of this unique cinematic, which featured some authentic western dialogue that had an almost, old world, even Shakespearean sensibility to it, though it is peppered with enough adult language that the 18-34 year olds will stay awake. But what comes through as the prime attraction of this story is the relationship between the Sisters Brothers...a very complex relationship rich with buried resentments that quietly simmer to the surface as the story progresses.
What we have here is a pair of brothers whose sense of family has kept them doing what they do for a long time, partly because they don't know how to do anything, but as we learn, partly out of obligation to each other. We're not terribly surprised when it is revealed that Eli wants to stop what they're doing or that Charlie doesn't, but what is surprising is why Eli is so protective of his brother, a reveal that left a lump in this reviewer's throat.
Reilly, arguably the busiest actor in Hollywood right now, shows why with another bravura performance and is beautifully matched by Phoenix with a raw nerve of a performance that gnaws at the gut and once again Ahmed proves to have what it takes to be a real movie star. Ahmed and Gyllenhall are reunited onscreen for the first time since Nightcrawler. Mention should also be made of Benoit Debie's extraordinary cinematography and Alexandre Desplat's lilting music. It takes a minute to get going and gets a little saggy in the center, but this offbeat western delivers western action and thoughtful character study in perfect tandem.
2018's The Sisters Brothers is a sumptuously mounted western drama that simultaneously respects the genre and gives it a healthy tweak that never really defies logic. The film takes a minute to get going but works thanks to moody direction and some really charismatic performances.
Based on a novel by Patrick DeWitt, the story opens in 1851 Oregon where we meet Eli Sisters (John C. Reilly) and his brother, Charlie (Joaquin Phoenix) who are professional hitmen who have been hired by someone called The Commodore (Rutger Hauer) to find a gold prospector named Herman Kermit Warm (Riz Ahmed) who has apparently perfected some kind of formula that allows mining for gold without all of the traditional gold prospecting equipment. Warm has already hooked up with another bounty of The Commodore's named John Morris (Jake Gyllenhaal) who quickly strikes a deal with the guy and the hunt begins though what happens when these four men finally come face to face isn't exactly what we expect.
When I first saw the premise of this film, I checked the credits to make sure it wasn't a Tarantino film. I mean, a pair of Old west hitmen sent by someone called The Commodore" to kill a mad scientist named Warm? If that doesn't sound like a Tarantino film, I don't know what does this. Actually, Jacques Audiard is credited as director and co-screenwriter of this unique cinematic, which featured some authentic western dialogue that had an almost, old world, even Shakespearean sensibility to it, though it is peppered with enough adult language that the 18-34 year olds will stay awake. But what comes through as the prime attraction of this story is the relationship between the Sisters Brothers...a very complex relationship rich with buried resentments that quietly simmer to the surface as the story progresses.
What we have here is a pair of brothers whose sense of family has kept them doing what they do for a long time, partly because they don't know how to do anything, but as we learn, partly out of obligation to each other. We're not terribly surprised when it is revealed that Eli wants to stop what they're doing or that Charlie doesn't, but what is surprising is why Eli is so protective of his brother, a reveal that left a lump in this reviewer's throat.
Reilly, arguably the busiest actor in Hollywood right now, shows why with another bravura performance and is beautifully matched by Phoenix with a raw nerve of a performance that gnaws at the gut and once again Ahmed proves to have what it takes to be a real movie star. Ahmed and Gyllenhall are reunited onscreen for the first time since Nightcrawler. Mention should also be made of Benoit Debie's extraordinary cinematography and Alexandre Desplat's lilting music. It takes a minute to get going and gets a little saggy in the center, but this offbeat western delivers western action and thoughtful character study in perfect tandem.