The Sisters Brothers [Les Frères Sisters] **** (2018, John C Reilly, Joaquin Phoenix, Jake Gyllenhaal, Riz Ahmed) – Movie Review

John C Reilly and Joaquin Phoenix get rewarding roles as killer brothers Eli and Charlie Sisters, who hunt down gold prospector Hermann Kermit Warm (Riz Ahmed) and his surprise ally John Morris (Jake Gyllenhaal), who was originally hunting him, in 1850s Oregon.

French co-writer/ director Jacques Audiard’s offbeat 2018 Western The Sisters Brothers is based on Patrick DeWitt’s novel. Though very much a typical Spaghetti-style Western, somehow the film remains very French in sensibility. It is bleak, and stark, and violent, with plenty of shootouts, but it is not just about greed and killing, and Reilly brings it much warmth. His double act with Phoenix (playing the naturally violent brother) is a winning combination. They ride well in the saddle together. Gyllenhaal and Ahmed are good too, and also show attractive chemistry together, though their roles are subsidiary, and they are off screen for too much of the time.

There are only a couple of other roles in the film, with Rebecca Root playing sinister town boss Mayfield and Carol Kane as the boys’ mother Mrs Sisters. There are a few other bit parts, but that is it. Rutger Hauer appears as The Commodore, the man who hires the Sisters and John Morris, as well as the thugs that eventually come after them, but it is not exactly his best ever role.

So all the focus is on Reilly and Phoenix, and they really feel right in the West. The film takes its soul from its lovingly re-created Western look and feel, though ironically it was made in Romania and Spain,including the streets set at Mini Hollywood, Tabernas, Almería, Andalucía, Spain and the mountains and forest wilderness scenery at Sierra de Urbasa, Navarra, Spain. So technically it is a Spaghetti Western. The very non-typical, discordant score is by Alexandre Desplat, making you sit up and take notice, the striking cinematography is by Benoît Debie, and the meticulous Production Design is by Michel Barthélémy.

The Sisters Brothers is a long, epic-feel movie, with a bit of a slow burn, but it grips and involves, and eventually gets there.

It won four César awards – Best Director, Best Cinematography, Best Production Design and Best Sound. Audiard won the Silver Lion for Best Director at the Venice Film Festival (2018), where it premiered on 2 September 2018.

It was shown at the London Film Festival on 21 October 2018, but was not released in the UK till 5 April 2019.

Audiard is the posh director of A Self-Made Hero (1996), Read My Lips (2001), The Beat That My Heart Skipped (2005), A Prophet (2009), Rust and Bone (2012), and Dheepan (2015).

 © Derek Winnert 2019 Movie Review

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