THE SISTERS BROTHERS
Way out western…
on paper, some films are a sure thing. Take The Sisters Brothers, a western directed by Rust And Bone’s Jacques Audiard, starring Joaquin Phoenix, John C. Reilly, Jake Gyllenhaal and Riz Ahmed – a frankly absurd assembly of talent. But like a frontiersman panning for his fortune, though you might be expecting cinematic gold, there are only nuggets of brilliance amidst the dirt.
Phoenix and Reilly are the titular Sisters siblings Charlie and Eli, a bickering pair of devilishly adept assassins. Tasked with retrieving gold prospector Hermann Kermit Warm (Ahmed), their plan changes when the brothers discover Warm has buddied up with their scout John Morris (Gyllenhaal) on a scheme that could make them all rich.
Like Leone before him, Audiard brings an audacious outsider’s perspective to the most American of genres. Stylised gunfights are shot in wide, often unbroken takes, and can be grisly affairs. Warm and Morris, meanwhile, are an unusual duo for this type of film – dreamers working towards
a utopian ideal and finding kinship in the harshest of terrain.
Phoenix and Reilly are the focus, and both do solid work: particularly Phoenix, who could play loose-cannon killer Charlie in his sleep. But their meandering route between whisky-soaked drinking holes feels conventional in comparison. And after a truly horrifying turn of events, the film’s rushed attempt to redeem the brothers leaves a bitter taste. Jordan Farley
ThE vErdiCT
Jacques Audiard’s darkly comedic western has a cast to die for, but not all of it works.