THE SISTERS BROTHERS – Review

To paraphrase a familiar radio and TV character’s beloved intro, it’s time to “return to those thrilling days of yesteryear”. Yes thrilling and truly dangerous. That would be the very wild West, that is the Western United States and territories of the mid-nineteenth century. Modern moviegoers don’t get much of a chance to see a real “oater” since Westerns became more sporadic, perhaps supplanted in the late 1970’s by the Science Fiction-set fantasies. It’s been almost a year since HOSTILES came galloping into multiplexes. And now another filmmaker “saddles up” for this new story of gunplay in the sagebrush. So, who is tackling the most American of movie backdrops? Why it’s celebrated French writer/director of A PROPHET and DHEEPAN Jacques Audiard (born in Paris, no less) who offers a very unique look at the deadly duo who menaced the prairie, the men known as THE SISTERS BROTHERS.

Their story begins in 1851 at a near-deserted ranch in the dead of night. The two brothers, Eli (John C. Reilly) and Charlie (Joaquin Phoenix), burst in on a disparate group of men, Gunshots echo over the land, and the peaceful setting is soon a blazing inferno. Next morning, Charlie confers with their boss, the rich property owner known as The Commodore. The Sisters Brothers have little time to rest as they are given their next assignment. An aspiring prospector named Herman Kermit Warm (Riz Ahmed) has skipped out on a loan and needs to be brought in by any means necessary. Another member of the team of enforcers, scout John Morris (Jake Gyllenhaal) has gone ahead to track Warm. Morris will leave word for the men along the trail to San Francisco. Eli and Charlie bicker (as brothers are wont) as they ride through the lush hills and forests, managing to escape death, both from the wildlife and from the residents of an oft-kilter village named, of all things, Mayfield. Their adventures are intercut with the unexpected friendship of Morris and Warm, who hopes to use his scientific skills with a chemical mixture to easily scoop up gold nuggets from the riverbeds. When all four finally meet, the brothers mull over a life-changing decision. Should they continue to be The Commodore’s enforcers, or should they start a new life with Morris and Warm, a life more gentle, and finally put down roots in the land of opportunity that is old California? And will their boss send others to bring them back, just as the Sisters Brothers hope to hang up their holsters forever?

Though he’s saddled (sorry) with the role of the quieter sibling, John C. Reilly’s superb performance really carries this tale of redemption. His Eli has the most complex character “arc”, going from listless “gun for hire” through a realization that he just can’t keep living this way. Though he’s entering the “twilight” of his life, Reilly shows us how an uncultured man is open to change and eager to “better” himself. This is best shown in a sequence in which Eli discovers and is fascinated by the miraculous new invention of the toothbrush, along with its foaming powder (this is echoed later as he is stunned at the wonders of the “water closet”). Just as he amuses us, Reilly pulls at our heartstrings as Eli longs for a true “pure” love, with a red scarf to remind him of that missed chance at bliss. Reilly’s great in the “goofball” misfits of the Will Ferrell team-ups, but here he truly gets to show the range of his talents. Oh, and he is part of an engaging team in his pairing with the “wild card” Charlie played with verve by Phoenix. He’s coarse and crude, but he’s hiding a truly horrific family secret. Unfortunately, Charlie’s drunken swagger is too similar to Phoenix’s recent role as the inebriated cartoonist in DON’T WORRY, HE WON’T GET FAR ON FOOT. Speaking of duos, this film marks an unexpected reunion of the stars of 2014’s cult classic NIGHTCRAWLER. Oddly the two actors seem to be more “in sync’ this time around. Gyllenhaal’s Morris and Ahmed’s Warm are articulate, thoughtful men who are often “out of place’, maybe two “fish out of water” in the brutal and violent West. Like Eli, Morris has that “itch” and the level-headed Warm draws him into another life option (but nothing like Gyllanhaal’s last Western, the one on the mountain). This film also offers several great, almost cameos, roles wonderfully realized by rising star Alison Tolman (TV’s “Fargo”) and screen veterans Carol Kane and Rutger Hauer (don’t blink).

Audiard’s confident direction (you’d think he had a couple of “horse operas” under his gunbelt) keeps this sprawling saga moving at a brisk clip for the first hour or so. That opening range “raid’ is a real corker, with pistol blasts suddenly lighting up the silent darkness. It concludes with a fiery image that’s so beautiful and horrific it may visit your dreams (nightmares, more likely). That same’s true for the eerie interlude at the saloon/brothel of Mayfield, making us wonder if the “hole in the wall” escaped Purgatory or Hell itself. Unfortunately, the movie’s momentum slackens when the teams join forces on the riverbanks and “gold fever’ strikes. Perhaps about 15 or twenty minutes could have been excised from the screenplay by Audiard and Thomas Bidegain which adapts the lauded novel by Patrick DeWitt. But it’s got a subtle, haunting score by Alexandre Desplat which works so well with the majestic cinematography by Benoit Debie. Their work, along with Reilly’s compelling performance, carries the film through the rough spots of the long, winding trail. It’s not another SHANE or THE SEARCHERS, but the legend of THE SISTERS BROTHERS has scenes that will stay with you long after you dismount the theatre saddle, er…seat.

2.5 Out of 5

THE BROTHERS SISTER opens everywhere and screens exclusively in St. Louis at Landmark’s Plaza Frontenac Cinemas