Review of the film 'The Sisters Brothers' (2018)


'The Sisters Brothers' is an Adventure film set in the West Coast from the United States at the time of the Gold Rush – a Western film, if you like.

Eli & Charlie are the titular Sisters brothers, and they are perfect gunmen. They are fearless, they are quick at drawing, they aim like no one, and more importantly, they are remorseless. Turned into guns for hire, they work for the Commodore who tasks them to catch outlaws -but he has interests of his own. The Commodore instructs the Sisters brothers to catch Hermann Kermit Warm, on the grounds of being a thief, and tells them to contact John Morris who is already working on finding Warm. The brothers will face the perils of the Far West, and then, they will find Warm is not who they think.

The screenplay develops adequately the characters of Eli, Charlie, Morris and Warm. Through the endless violence we get a taste of the void in the life of the brothers, about to keep going on and killing people with no discernible end in sight – and the characters feel that void and reflect on it.

The film production does a good job on providing a detailed reconstruction of the Far West, its towns and even a bit of the San Francisco city. Costumes and decoration are minutely detailed, and with the help of an excellent illumination, we can feel the atmosphere of the epoch. Audiard does a good job at the direction, alternating the fast pace for the action sequences with the slow pace for the drama scenesthough his use of the camera for the action sequences is far from Peckinpah's.

As for the acting, it is good in generaland that's the sign of a good acting direction. The Hindustani Riz Ahmed, in spite of being miscast as a German-named character, does a good job. Also good is Joaquin Phoenix is good as the reckless Charlie. John C. Reilly is brilliant as the stubborn but tender Eli. But the best performance comes out of Jake Gyllenhaalin spite of having less dialogue than his counterparts, Gyllenhaal gives his character a mysterious magnetism that makes it outstanding.

All in all, an excellent film. 4 out of 5.

Title:
The Sisters Brothers
Genre:
Adventure
Year:
2018
Nationality:
France, Spain, Romania, Belgium, USA
Colour:
Colour
Director:
Jacques Audiard
Writer:
Jacques Audiard & Thomas Bidegain, based in the book by Patrick DeWitt
Cast:
John C. Reilly, Joaquin Phoenix, Jake Gyllenhaal, Riz Ahmed, Rebecca Root, Allison Tolman, Rutger Hauer, Carol Kane, Patrice Cossonneau, Zac Abbott, David Gasman, Philip Rosch, Creed Bratton, Lenuta Bala, Jochen Hägele, Eric Colvin, Ian Reddington, Aldo Maland, Theo Exarchopoulos, Sean Duggan, Raymond Waring, Johannes Haukur Johannesson, Gerard Cooke, Frédéric Siuen, Trevor Allan Davies, Aidan O'Hare, Andrew Litvack, Nick Cornwall, Duncan Lacroix, Jean-Marc Bellu, Diego Llano, Hugo Dillon, Lexie Benbow-Hart, Richard Brake, Kelda Holmes
Producer:
Pascal Caucheteux, Michael De Luca, Alison Dickey, Michel Merkt, John C. Reilly, Gregoire Sorlat
Executive producer:
Chelsea Barnard, Megan Ellison, Tudor Reu, Sammy Scher, Delphine Tomson, Fernando Victoria de Lecea
Production designer:
Michel Barthélémy
Cinematographer:
Benoît Debie
Film editor:
Juliette Welfling
Casting:
Christel Baras, Francine Maisler, Mathilde Snodgrass
Art Director:
Gilles Boillot, Antonio Calvo-Dominguez, Dominique Moisan, Serban Porupca, Etienne Rohde
Set Decorator:
Angela Nahum
Costume Designer:
Milena Canonero
Music:
Alexandre Desplat
Running time:
122 minutes
Language:
English

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