Skip to main content

Review: The Sisters Brothers (2018)

The Sisters Brothers (2018)

The Sisters Brothers is yet another illustration of the fickleness of the film industry. It is by all means a very good film - direction, cinematography, script, acting, and so on - however, it greatly under-performed on release and, since, has more-or-less disappeared from discussion. This really is a shame because The Sisters Brothers has all of the trappings of a classic dark comedy. I guess the one hope is that it bounces back in future years as somewhat of a cult film.
As one can guess, the film is about the Sisters brothers - two of the most infamous hired-guns around - Charlie (John C. Reilly) and Eli (Joaquin Phoenix). The film revolves around the brothers meeting up with a man, John Morris (Jake Gyllenhaal) who has been tracking another man, Hermann Kermit Warm (Riz Ahmed), whom the brothers have been hired to kill. Along the way, the brothers run into and entangle themselves with an assortment of notable characters, dangers, and various plots, including some uniquely novel technologies for the gold rush happening at the time.
I actually read the original novel by Canadian author, Patrick deWitt, (which I highly recommend) and can say that the film adaptation adeptly holds up to the deadpan comedic and violent spirit of the book. French director, Jacques Audiard (A Prophet; Rust and Bone) helms the film and, coming from quite different genres, brings a unique tone to this classic Western story. The four leads here are four of the biggest actors working today and they each shine brightly in the film. Reilly and Phoenix in particular (as one can imagine) are exceptional and somewhat dip from new wells in this film. Reilly is funny as ever, while also having some dramatic beats along the way. Phoenix though arguably steals the show playing the darkly-grim and violent Eli. He absolutely nails the deadpan comedy of the film, as well as notably having one of the larger emotional character arcs. The film is quite reminiscent of The Coen brothers in its violent and darkly comedic nature, especially as they too have set a number of their stories in the days of the turbulent and Wild West. I highly recommend a viewing of this under-appreciated and under-seen film from last year.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Review: How to With John Wilson (Season 1)

How to With John Wilson (Season 1) TLDR: It's hard to describe exactly what How To is or why exactly it works, but there's a certain point in every episode when the comedy begins to click and then the human element - the surprising poignancy and the everyman/woman relatability - comes out in spades. This documentary series is unlike anything else out there and absolutely worth your time. Who exactly is John Wilson? That's the first question that comes to mind when HBO's new documentary series is recommended to a new viewer. The name is in the show's title, and yet John Wilson is rather a nobody in the grand scheme of things as well as in the entertainment industry (at least he was prior to the becoming a bonafide hit). However, not long ago, contemporary comedy icon Nathan Fielder discovered Wilson and, after seeing his work and style, decided to jump on board as a producer for a new series made by Wilson.  So, again, what exactly is this show? Well, each episode of...

Review: Soul (2020)

Soul (2020) TLDR: For a year where many may feel like they have lost a little piece of their own, Soul has arrived to remind us all what's most important in life. This is a Pixar film that is arguably more important for adults to watch than kids: it is beautiful - in both story and art, it is quirky, it is heartfelt and, as these trying times endlessly push on, it reminds us that there is still a lot of good in this world to enjoy and reflect upon.  Note: some spoilers below. It takes a little bit of time to ease into Disney/Pixar's Soul. Though the film starts out in a lush and beautifully rendered NYC filled with delightful jazz music as we follow Joe around his everyday boroughs, things very quickly run astray. Suddenly, we are thrown into an abstract world filled with Picasso-like wiry characters and massively heady existential concepts like 'where do we come from', 'the great beyond', and much more. If it's not immediately apparent, it soon becomes clea...

Review: The New Mutants (2020)

The New Mutants (2020) TLDR: A sad, dismal final chapter in Fox's once-acclaimed X-Men saga. The New Mutants shows promise in fragments, but its poor script and plot and often awkward execution makes for a sickly overall package that is quite fitting for this equally-sickly year that it has finally been released in... The New Mutants were an alt-X-Men team created in the early 80's in an effort to revamp and re-contemporize a new team of teenage X-Men. The new series became a smash-hit with new star mutants like Magik, Cannonball, Sunspot, Wolfsbane and Mirage, all of whom continue to headline Marvel comics to this day. Josh Boone's The New Mutants, which was announced more than five years ago and shot in 2017, has finally seen the light of day in 2020... The film seeks to adapt the team's beloved 'Demon Bear' storyline, while introducing audiences to this fresh team of mutant superheroes. In doing so, Boone tries to create an omelet-homage from the likes of Ste...