The Sisters Brothers

Dir: Jacques Audiard

2019

****

2019’s The Sisters Brothers is proof that you can’t base a film’s quality on how much money it makes. Based on the award-winning novel by Patrick deWitt and directed by one of France’s best directors Jacques Audiard, the film features a brilliant story, a fantastic script and some awesome performances by John C. Reilly (who also produced), Joaquin Phoenix, Jake Gyllenhaal and Riz Ahmed – four of my favourite actors working today. It also features the great Rutger Hauer in the last film before his death. Set in the American West in 1851, brothers Eli and Charlie Sisters (Reilly and Phoenix) are gunfighters hired by a wealthy businessman, known as the Commodore (Hauer). He tasks them to kill a man named Hermann Warm (Ahmed). Meanwhile John Morris (Gyllenhaal), a private detective, has been engaged by the Commodore to track Warm down and hand him over to the Sisters brothers. Morris finds Warm traveling by wagon train to California with the Gold Rush and befriends him. They travel to Jacksonville where, unbeknownst to Warm, Morris has arranged his rendezvous with the Sisters brothers. Warm finds Morris’ handcuffs, realizes his true intentions, and threatens him at gunpoint, but Morris overpowers him. Warm reveals that he is en route to find gold using a chemical formula of his own invention; the Sisters brothers have been sent to retrieve the formula, most likely by torturing Warm before killing him. Refusing to allow an innocent man’s murder, Morris frees Warm and the two leave Jacksonville. On the road toward San Francisco, Warm reveals that his ultimate plan is to create a utopian society, free from greed and other social ills in Dallas, Texas. Meanwhile, the brothers' pursuit is plagued by misfortune. A grizzly bear attacks their camp and mauls a horse, Eli almost dies from a venomous spider bite, and Charlie is repeatedly drunk and too hung over to ride. When they discover Morris' betrayal in Jacksonville, they follow the pair to Mayfield. At Ms. Mayfield's hotel and brothel, she denies having seen Warm and Morris, but offers the brothers a warm welcome. A sympathetic prostitute warns Eli of an impending attack, and he attempts to leave with a drunken Charlie, but they are cornered by gunslingers hired by Mayfield. The brothers kill the gunslingers and interrogate Mayfield as to Warm's and Morris’ whereabouts, before murdering and robbing her. In San Francisco, Charlie and Eli argue about continuing their hunt. Eli wishes to retire but Charlie angrily rejects this idea. The next day, Charlie reveals that he has found a claim staked in Morris’ name a few days' ride away. Eli agrees to complete the hunt as their final job. On the way to the claim site, the brothers are ambushed and captured by Warm and Morris, who are then attacked by Mayfield's men sent before her death to claim the formula for herself. The four men team up to kill Mayfield's men, after which Charlie and Eli agree to help Warm and Morris find gold in exchange for half the takings. Warm and Morris decide to prospect together and create a phalanstère in Dallas. Working to dam the river, the new partners develop a camaraderie. Eli reveals to Warm that Charlie killed their abusive, alcoholic father when they were young, and that Charlie's short temper and violent tendencies put him in danger, so Eli reluctantly took up their present employment to protect him. The dam is completed, and Warm explains that when his chemical formula is added to water, it causes gold ore to glow briefly, but is extremely caustic. The men pour the formula into the river and begin gathering the gold. When the glow begins to fade, Charlie panics and tries to add more formula, but spills the undiluted substance onto his hand and into the river. Eli rushes out of the river to restrain Charlie, while the undiluted formula badly injures Warm and Morris. The next day, Warm succumbs to his injuries while Morris shoots himself to end his suffering. Eli takes Charlie to the nearest town, where a doctor amputates his arm. Hired guns sent by the Commodore arrive and demand their surrender. Eli shoots them, and he and Charlie decide they must kill the Commodore. They arrive in Oregon City to find that the Commodore has died of natural causes. The brothers return home to their mother; though initially suspicious, she welcomes them in and they rest. John C. Reilly and Joaquin Phoenix make such an unlikely pair that they are actually quite convincing as real brothers, that is, brothers that are nothing alike. I also liked the partnership of Jake Gyllenhaal and Riz Ahmed who joined forces once more following Nightcrawler. It’s a film with two great duos, which makes me wonder why more films don’t adopt the same idea. I would never describe the film as a comedy but there is an underlying humour in the film that is very self-aware of the genre as well as the era. I wouldn’t call it a neo-western either, as it is very much a classical western but without all of the 1950s clichés. I’m a huge fan of director Jacques Audiard following his masterpieces including The Beat That My Heart Skipped, Rust and Bone and A Prophet but I never would have thought of him for this story. He direction is perfect, and in classic western style the film is entirely filmed outside of the US, in Spain, France and Romania. It’s a strong and well rounded contemporary western with all the right levels of drama and humour My only criticism is that Rutger Hauer didn’t have a bigger part, indeed, he didn’t even speak. Apart from that it was one of my favourite films of the year.