The Sisters Brothers - Review

The Sisters Brothers

From director Jacques Audiard (Rust and Bone, A Prophet), and based on the novel by Patrick deWitt, THE SISTERS BROTHERS is a reimagining of the cinematic Western.

PLOT: Starring Joaquin Phoenix and John C. Reilly the story picks up in 1851 where we see Charlie and Eli Sisters who are both brothers with an unusual last name and who also highly skilled legendary assassins in a savage, money grubbing, hostile world. They frequently work ash hired guns by a wealthy man named only the “Commodore” to exact his revenge on all those who cross him or owns him money - perceived or imagined.

One day the “Commodore” tells the Sisters to travel from Oregon City to San Francisco to murder prospector Hermann Warm, who is described to the brothers as a "thief". However, when Charlie and Eli ultimately encounter Warm, they discover he has developed a chemical formula that reveals the location of gold hidden in riverbeds by glowing at night. Charlie and Eli decide to join his prospecting operation along with Warm’s partner Bounty Hunter Morris (Jake Gyllenhaal) but soon discover his chemical formula is extremely toxic and that exposure from it while panning for gold could kill them quickly.

REVIEW: I love westerns so it takes a lot for me to be disappointed. But in the case of “The Sisters’ Brothers” as a re-imagining of the cinematic Western as a dangerous, witty, and emotionally perilous place it didn't always deliver. Specifically, "The Sisters Brothers" while perfectly cast as two loving thoroughly bonded siblings, seemed less of a story about bounty hunting brothers galloping on their horses, acting like cowboys and having dramatic shoot outs and more like two men who are coincidentally brothers who work together in the same profession needing therapy. For me their continuous emotional conversations at times were more suited for an episode of Dr. Phil on his psychiatrist couch. 

I can usually can tell when a European directs an American Western. Specifically in this case with French director Audiard 's adaptation of this Canadian novel about the American, you will often see long periods where the principle Cowboys will seem to be introspective with punctuated humor here and there. Some of these types of films have achieved iconic masterful status for their stylized interpretation of the West  (i.e. "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly").  And as with the "The Sisters Brothers" there were a few moments that it was able to achieve something meaningful in the way of being surprisingly fresh, edgy, with sharp humor. But it was also at times; actually most of the bulk of the entire film itself a very strange and sad story to have experienced. There were too few moments of real liveliness and traditional western spirited and tension". And even when those moments and qualities were on display they were quickly overtaken and supplanted by its ever present brooding and moodiness that made the overall film feel like something simply plodding along.

“The Sisters Brothers” has two great actors with real chemistry making as much out of this script as anyone could have in the form of J. Phoenix and J.C Reilly. But the overly off beat nature of this story and the deliberate manner it was directed left me with more of a baffled feeling during its 2:00 running time. The fact is I was less enlighten at the end of this western journey with two brothers named “Sisters” than I was at the beginning and for me that was very unfortunate with such A list star talent on board.

2.75 Stars