I seldom let a chance to watch a Western movie pass me by, so when I saw the previews for the film, “The Sisters Brothers,” I set out for the theater. This movie, produced by actor John C. Reilly in conjunction with a French production company and directed by French director, Jacques Audiard, takes place in the West of the 1850, in the Pacific Northwest.
The story is simple: A big shot named The Commodor (Rutger Hauer who barely utters a line in the entire film), wants a foreign outsider prospector by the name of Hermann Kermit Warm (Riz Ahmed, the first time I have seen a Mid Eastern actor in a Western) to be killed for stealing. The “stealing” is actually a secret formula of Warm’s own creation for divining gold from streams. To this end he engages a sibling assassin team by the name of Eli and Charlie Sisters (Reilly and Joaquin Phoenix).
Alert to the danger, Warm takes on protection in the form of lawman/detective John Morris (Jake Gyllenhal), setting off a pursuit of untold miles and time. This set-up naturally provides excuses to cover vast tracts of unspoiled land, just what any Western needs, as the tale moves from heavily wooded Oregon down along the California coast to San Francisco during the gold rush.
Reilly really shines in this film. He fleshes out his charter and is able to instill compassion and even poetry into a hired killer. Phoenix’ character is a sadistic drunk, but finds some redemption by films’ end. And, if you have read any of my past reviews you know of the esteem in which I hold Gyllenhaal, one of the very best and most under rated actors working today.
The Sisters Brothers is labeled a dark comedy. Perhaps. It is most unusual for a western; both gritty and sensitive. (Animal lovers – Reilly’s horse dies and it affects him deeply and he is able to show a different side to his character). I don’t understand why this film is doing so poorly at the box office. I recommend it and give it an 8 out of 10.
finch on film 